'Never Give Up': How a Georgia Family Rebuilt Their Antique Shop After A Lightning Fire Destroyed it Overnight
Thursday, April 9th, 2026
On the morning of March 5, 2025, Michael Bradshaw was in the shower when his phone rang.
His friend Larry Ballard was on the other end of the line.
"Your building's on fire," Ballard told him.
"Probably the worst four words that I've ever heard," Bradshaw said.
A lightning strike had hit a nearby cell tower overnight and jumped to the roof of Bolingbroke Antiques and Mercantile, igniting the second floor of the Monroe County shop. Firefighters pumped thousands of gallons of water into the building to extinguish the flames. The second floor burned. Everything below it soaked.
Read more at 13WMAZ.
