LATHAM — Laura Madelone said she thought she had been hit by a truck as she stood outside the Saratoga County Fairgrounds late Friday night.

In fact, the Latham woman and an Averill Park teen were struck by lightning.

Madelone had been at the fair with her boyfriend, his two daughters and their 15-year-old friend when it began to rain. Madelone said she and the 15-year-old girl, who she knows only as Kelly, decided to run for the car in a nearby parking lot, but they took a wrong turn and got lost near a gate outside the fairgrounds.

"We stopped to get our bearings and I saw flashes of lightning. The last thought I had was, 'There's a tree and there's a metal gate. This isn't good,'" she said from her home this afternoon.

Madelone said a couple in a passing car witnessed the strikes and said the girl was hit first.

"The man, Jamie, came to my side and told me I'd been hit by lightning," she said. "I looked over and his girlfriend, Jennifer, was giving Kelly CPR. A minute later, the ambulance was there and the EMT shocked Kelly with the defibrillator."

She said she was alert enough when she regained consciousness after the 11:45 p.m. strike that she remembered her boyfriend's cellphone number.

Jay Sitterly said Madelone had the keys to his car and he and his daughters were standing in the parking lot waiting for her to arrive when he got the call from a stranger saying there had been an incident by the gate. Sitterly said the incident was incomprehensible.

"I still can't believe it happened," he said Tuesday. "We've known each other since we were 13, and we've been together for about six years," he said. "I'm grateful she's okay."

Madelone said she has the worst headache of her life. She said she was admitted to Saratoga Hospital for about 24 hours and then released.

"They didn't want to let me go, but they weren't doing anything that I couldn't do at home," she said. "I don't have insurance, and I wanted to get out."

She said the results of a CAT scan performed at the hospital showed no damage.

Sitterly and Madelone said the teenager who was hit was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital for treatment and has been released to her parents.

They said they did not want to reveal her identity, but Sitterly's daughters have been in contact with the girl.

"They said she has burns in her mouth and throat," Madelone said.