As thunder and lightning pounded Central Vermont Tuesday morning, the first call came in -- a hilltop farmhouse on Allen Street in Barre City was burning. Tina Lang was inside her downstairs apartment when the lights went out. "The minute I got out of the shower, I heard, like, a loud explosion," she said. " I thought it was a transformer somewhere." She grabbed some clothes, her dog, and got out. Only then did she realize.