ST. GEORGE, Utah — In the hours after his truck was destroyed after it was struck by lightning on Interstate 15, a St. George man was floored by how his young son offered to help his father, a contractor who had lost his tools in the fire.
Casey Pettus was headed to Cedar City on Wednesday, and it was already a bad trip even before the lightning hit.
"I was about to actually get off on the exit that was just one mile ahead, because I had had a blowout, and my tire pressure was slowly going down on my rear driver's side tire," Pettus explained.
Although the weather conditions along the highway were deteriorating, Pettus said he and other drivers were being cautious, and he felt safe. That changed as he was talking to his brother on the phone.
"He's like telling me, 'Pull over, I'll come and get you, help you with your tire.' I was like, no, I can make it to the tire store," he recalled. "Then, just as we're talking... boom! I just get rocked.
"...it took me a few seconds to realize, holy crap, I just got struck by lightning."
Pettus said that within five seconds of the strike, his truck lost all power. It was all he could do, without power steering, to get the truck to the side of the road in the pouring rain.
"Before I could even stop, smoke was coming out of the dash and the passenger side," he said.
Video below shows truck engulfed in flames following lightning strike (Dell Tanner):
After safely getting out of his truck, Pettus grabbed his phone, wallet and keys, but left behind thousands of dollars in tools. And even as smoke was still coming from the dashboard, Pettus popped the hood and saw no smoke or fire.
"One gentleman in a dump truck who stopped, he stopped ahead of it," Pettus said, "and then he's running up with a fire extinguisher, and I was waving him away. I was like, no, I don't even want to go near the truck. I'm not going to allow you to put yourself in danger. Who knows what's going to happen, right? If it explodes or pops off."
The smoke began turning from white to black, and Pettus said that within five minutes of stopping, his truck was fully engulfed in flames.
Many who saw the startling video of Pettus' truck on fire after the lightning strike were confused, having always believed that vehicles were safe spaces during a storm, and Pettus said it was.
"I did not get shocked. I did not get hurt. I did not get harmed," he said the day after.
While Pettus was fine, the tools of his trade were not.
"They're all cooled," the contractor said of the tools he uses for work, "they're all gone."
For Pettus, the day took an uplifting turn when he returned home to his wife and children. While sitting out on his deck, his 9-year-old son handed him a big wad of cash.
"He's been really diligent in making money and saving money," shared Pettus of his son. "He doesn't spend a lot because he has goals. He started a little business where he helps the neighbors bring out their trash cans and put them away."
Instead of continuing to save the money for his dream dirt bike, Pettus' son wanted his father to have the money to buy new tools.
"I was so touched," Pettus said while choking up, "and he's like, 'Here, dad. You could have this to replace your tools,' and I just, in that moment, I'd never felt so loved, you know what I mean? I felt so much joy for my little man and what he was willing to give up."
Pettus proudly rejected his son's money, telling him that insurance would help him cover the loss. In the end, it was a few hours in Pettus' life that he will never forget, for a whole range of reasons.
"In the midst of the chaos and the crazy stories and the very real dramatic things that happened to us in life," he said, "there are those sweet souls that can instantly bring light and joy into your life, and he's one of them, and that was a moment that we had."
