A similar thing happened to me back in 1972 with lightning. I was in grad school and working nights at a local motel. The switchboard was right next to the front desk where I checked people in. When someone would come in the door I would go over to the front desk, take my headphones off, and lay them on the counter so I could talk to the person who just came in. One night there was a big storm, just as several people came in. The lightning struck a tree in back of the motel, and one of the people checking in told me they had seen fire jump out of the headphones I had just taken off and laid on the counter. Talk about the Lord's protection.