PELL CITY — An early morning house fire in Pell City may have been the result of a lightning strike from heavy thunderstorms passing through the area Wednesday.

The house located at 875 Cogswell Ave. was reportedly unoccupied, said Capt. Larry Horton of the Pell City Fire Department.

“It had been burning for some time when we got there,” Horton said. “Probably for about 45 minutes to an hour. The whole inside was burning.”

Horton said the fire department got the call at approximately 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“It’s hard to say what caused a fire when it gets to that point,” Horton said. “But there were some other suspected lightening strikes in the county and the time frame would be right.”

Firefighters worked to remove the metal roof on the house to relieve some of the heat from the fire, Horton said.

“Everything just pancaked down,” Horton said.

The fire was reported by someone driving by the burning house, Horton said.

Traffic in the area was stopped while firefighters worked to get the flames under control. The street was reopened by about 8 a.m., Horton said.

The house is located just a few blocks west of Pell City High School, and school buses were rerouted to deliver students to school.

The house continued to smolder late Wednesday morning. An adjacent garage also burned in the blaze.

Ten firefighters worked to control the blaze.

“It will take a while for it to cool,” Horton said.