A lightning strike sent a chimney stack crashing down and blew up an electrical socket at a house in Oxford.
The two pigeon chicks
Firefighters were called to Merewood Avenue, Sandhills, at about 2.45pm on Tuesday, after the lightning strike hit a chimney and left a house without power.
Crews rescued two pigeon chicks, which survived the strike, and took them to Oxford Animal Hospital in Cowley Road.
Howard Jacobs, of Merewood Avenue, said: "There was a loud clap of thunder, and I heard this crash, like an explosion. It must have been heard by everyone in Sandhills.
"I went to check the front room because there was smoke there. The lightning found earth through our property, and blew an electrical socket clean off. I wasn't until I saw someone looking up at our roof that I realised the chimney was down."
Keeley Foley, of Oxford Animal Hospital, said the chicks were being treated for shock, fed, and monitored.
They may be transferred to St Tiggywinkle's wildlife hospital, near Thame, before being released back into the wild.
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