Former WTA tennis star Chanda Rubin’s house burned as a result of lightning during a severe thunderstorm on Wednesday evening in Lafayette Louisiana.
According to fire department spokesman Alton Trahan, Chanda was the only person in the house, and made it out unharmed after her alarm system alerted her to the fire late Wednesday evening.
“The whole roof and the attic and portions of the second story are completely gone,” Trahan said. “The first story is OK. There’s a lot of water damage on the first floor, obviously.” as quoted in the original AP article.
He said lightning was particularly intense in Rubin’s neighborhood and set off the fire, which started in the attic. Fire department inspectors were coming back in the daylight to assess the damage.
Numerous calls from Chanda’s alarm company, neighbors and Rubin herself came in within a few minutes of each other, starting at 9:07 p.m., Assistant Chief Jerry Delhomme said in the AP article.
The Fire department responded quickly and had hoses and trucks at her house within minutes, the firefighters stayed for over four hours to get all of the flames out.
Rubin, now 34, has won seven singles titles on the WTA Tour and reached a career high No. 6 in 1996. Her best run at a Grand Slam came that year, when she reached the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Her last singles titles were in Eastbourne and Madrid in 2003, according to the WTA website.
