Whole house surge protectors

This past Tuesday, when we had severe thunderstorms. a power surge caused the transformer on my nextdoor neighbor's furnance to catch fire. The South Orange fire department put out the fire and there were no injuries and the fire was contained to the furnace room.( PSEG has been working at the pole for two days now and my neighbor still doesn't have power.)

My neighbor told me that after the the power surge, her stove started acting crazy and she turned off all the circuits and unplugged all their computers, but didn't turn off the main breaker and as a result the furnace transformer caught fire. 

Has anybody had any experience with a whole house surge protector?  I'm thinking that it might be a good thing to have, particularly if you're not home when there is a power surge. 

Thanks. 

we had one installed at the panel by an electrician. Seems to work well. Can’t recall how much it was but definitely < $500. Don’t need surge protectors anymore. 

It’s a small box that is mounted next to your panel. Nothing to maintain or manage.

Thanks.