by Timothy Rutt

A lightning strike and a gas leak may have been the cause of a housefire this afternoon in west Altadena.

According to county fire inspector Quvondo Johnson, firefighters were called at 1:19 this afternoon to a housefire on the 900 block of West Kent Street.  According to Johnson, firefighters are speculating that the cause of the fire may have been a lightning strike that ignited a gas leak on the back of the single storey, single family structure.

Johnson said that a building and safety team had been sent to the house to see if it needs to be red-tagged.