A lightning strike is apparently to blame for a fire that destroyed an unoccupied home near Adner Sunday evening. Members of the Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad, Inc. had to manage poor road conditions and limited access to fight the blaze, which occurred off Orchard Hill Road. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters were dispatched to the scene for a brush fire just after 7 p.m., according to GVFRS spokesperson Hanna Carson. “Shortly after the initial call, dispatchers upgraded the incident to a structure fire,” she said. When the first units arrived on the scene, they reported a single-story home fully engulfed in flames and discovered the roof of the home had already collapsed.

“It was quickly determined that no one was currently living in the structure,” Carson said. “A significant amount of the structure was already lost or severely damaged from the fire.”

With the heavy rain that had fallen recently in the area, the dirt road lead...