CURRENT !!! Lightning Storm - Burns Down Top Flight Academy

Lightning burns Mt. Pleasant school
By Bruce Mehew

Published on September 15, 2009 at 07:05AM

Mid-Utah Radio http://midutahradio.com/

(MT. PLEASANT) – A lightning strike burned down a small Mt. Pleasant school Monday afternoon. Reports say that at about 1pm, the lightning hit and tore through the roof of the Top Flight Academy, a school for troubled boys. A dozen staff and boys were in the building at the time of the incident when the two-story structure caught fire during a heavy downpour on Monday. Everyone in the building were able to get out before the structure burned to the ground. The owner of the building, Cindi Sainsbury, said the lightning shook the whole building and exploded a four-square foot cavity in the roof, which collapsed the roof and gutted the entire building. About a dozen firefighters from two agencies battled the blaze. The staff and boys will be staying temporarily in a nearby building until more permanent arrangements can be made. The academy is a licensed therapeutic residential treatment center for boys 12 to 17.