Lightning struck the Maryland State House early Friday evening, according to multiple state officials.
Annapolis Fire Department Capt. R. Scott Svoboda said officials received a call of a possible fire at the State House at 6:26 p.m. Friday evening.
Responders were able to confirm that lightning had struck the building, but Svoboda said there was no corresponding fire due to the building's outside sprinkler system.
Officials cleared the area at 7 p.m. and Svoboda said there were no injuries.
Earlier, both Gov. Larry Hogan and his deputy director of communications tweeted that the building was hit by lightning as a storm passed through Annapolis.
"State House not on fire. Hit by lightning. Outside sprinkler system worked," tweeted Hogan spokesman Douglass Mayer.
"Was on the scene to investigate damage from lightning hitting the State House. Outside sprinkler worked, no fire. Very thankful! #Annapolis," tweeted Gov. Hogan.
The storm cell dumped .89 of an inch of rain in the 6 o'clock hour according to National Weather Service readings at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Faraj Capistrano, owner of the Capistrano Barber Shop on Maryland Avenue, heard the lightning strike and took video of what he and other witnesses thought was smoke coming from the top of the State House dome.
But fire officials insisted it was the sprinkler system spray, and perhaps some steam, not smoke.
The thunderstorm packed a lot of lightning and brought county firefighters to homes in Deale, Cape St. Claire and Marley, department spokesman Lt. Cliff Kooser said.
There was minor damage to each home.
Up in Lake Shore lightning hit utility lines and brought down poles. The lines caught fire and were quickly extinguished.
BGE was enroute to make repairs. There were about 800 customers out of power in Pasadena and Lake Shore and a total of 1,144 scattered county wide.
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