ATIKOKAN, ON — Lightning may have started a fire that destroyed a camp in the Atikokan area Tuesday afternoon.
The blaze was spotted by neighbours at Nym Lake, about 17 kilometres east of Atikokan off Highway 11.
Allison Rust-D'Eye told TBnewswatch she first smelled smoke "that was clearly not wood smoke" at about 4:30 p.m.
Looking across the lake, from about 3/4 of a kilometre away, she could see the camp – situated on an island – was already engulfed in flames.
Rust-D'Eye said there had been lightning activity in the proximity at the time, but no one observed a direct hit on the building.
The neighbours got in their boat to see if anyone needed help but found the owners had been away at the time.
Flames did not spread to the surrounding trees as the vegetation was wet from rainfall.
