KATY, TX (Covering Katy News) — A lightning strike ignited a house fire on Mayfield Ridge Lane during a severe storm Tuesday evening, drawing crews from four fire departments as firefighters battled flames that broke through the roof before being brought under control.
The Ridgefield subdivision is off Cinco Trace Drive, not far from Spring Green Boulevard. It was not the only neighborhood that saw lightening strikes.
The first call came in at 5:23 p.m. on Katy Flewellen Road, followed quickly by a second on Baldridge Lane — both lightning strikes. Then, at 5:31 p.m., dispatchers sent crews to Mayfield Ridge, where this call was more severe.
"We had a reporting party stating flames were through the roof already," said Brent Gorman, deputy chief with Willow Fork Fire Department. "When we made the roundabout at Spring Green, we could see flames above the house."
City of Katy Engine 3 arrived first, pulling hose lines for an interior attack and sending firefighters into the attic. Gorman arrived as the first chief on scene and assumed command. After seven to eight minutes with fire through the roof and no headway being made, he ordered crews to pull back and shift to a defensive operation.
Willow Fork's Tower 81 was raised for an aerial attack. Once the fire was knocked down, crews went back inside to finish the job.
Covering Katy News
Lightening struck and flames quickly enveloped the roof of the home on Mayfield Ridge Lane in Katy on June 2, 2026.
The flames threatened to spread to neighboring homes. Gorman said neighborhing homes on both sides showed signs of off-gassing — a condition that occurs when materials approach their ignition temperature and begin to smoke — requiring crews to spray water on neighboring homes too. Firefighters forced entry into an unoccupied home on the left side to check the attic where they confirmed the fire had not spread.
"A little bit of heat damage to both side exposures, but nothing beyond shingles," Gorman said.
No civilians were injured. Three firefighters were evaluated on scene; two were transported to Houston Methodist Hospital in Katy with minor injuries — heat exhaustion and a sprained or strained ankle.
The response required mutual aid from Houston Fire Department, Katy Fire Department, Fulshear Fire Department and Willow Fork Fire Department, which has primary jurisdiction in the area. The region was overwhelmed with simultaneous lightning strike calls Tuesday evening, stretching Community Volunteer Fire Department's resources and triggering a cascade of mutual aid that brought Houston units as far out as the Katy area.
"I know Fulshear had one as well — they had a working structure fire going," Gorman said.
WESTCOM, the dispatch center serving Fort Bend Harris ESD 100, coordinates the mutual aid response automatically, filling resource requests with the next available unit across jurisdictions.On Tuesday night the rapid calls kepty pushing a truck from Houston further west until it ended up in Katy's relatively new westside neighborhoods.
Gorman noted the phenomenon of homes being struck more frequently than trees is common in newer developments.
"In a new development, the houses are bigger than the trees," he said. "We know when there's a storm coming that produces that much lightning, we're going to get a lot of lightning strikes." If the house is taller than the trees then it's more likely to be struck he said.
He also explained why a direct strike can produce a catastrophic attic fire: if the electrical charge cannot quickly find a path to the ground, it spreads across the attic rather than dissipating harmlessly.
While the first appears to be the result of a lightening strike, the fire remains under investigation by the Fort Bend County Fire Marshal's Office.