Firefighters on the scene of a fire caused by a lightning strike at the Red Bank Volvo dealership at 100 Newman Springs Road. (Photos by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
A bolt of lightning struck the Red Bank Volvo dealership on Newman Springs Road, causing a fire in the rafters of the garage and drawing fire companies from a wide swath of Monmouth County to help put it out.
The Red Bank Fire Department received a call at 11:55 am that the building at 100 Newman Springs Road had been struck by lightning as a strong thunderstorm passed through the area.
Smoke could be seen rising from a cupola atop the garage, which was also filled with smoke, as dealership workers watched from the parking lot, many of them stunned but relieved no one was hurt. 
“It almost knocked me out of my chair,” one woman was heard telling someone on the other end of her cell phone conversation. At the Nissan dealership next door, a slightly portly employee joked that he had attracted the lightning with his “Thor-like physique.”
There were no injuries reported, although this reporter was unable to speak with fire department officials who were still engaged in fighting the fire. redbankgreen will update this post as new information becomes available.
Fire crews could be seen cutting through the roof of the building in order to reach the interior sections from which the smoke had been rising. 
Fire departments from Sea Bright, Eatontown, Little Silver, and Tinton Falls responded to the scene.
Newman Springs Road was closed in both directions, with traffic being detoured onto side streets.
That caused longer-than-usual delays along Shrewsbury Avenue to the west. 
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Editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
