Did a Meteorite Spark House Fire at Calif. Home? Owner Who Lost Everything Thinks So: 'I Heard a Big Bang'
A homeowner believes a meteorite may be to blame for a fire that broke out Friday evening at his house in a small California town.
Fire officials were alerted to the blaze near Lake Englebright just before 7:30 p.m. on Friday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit said in a statement shared on social media.
Though the cause of the fire has not been determined, Dustin Procita believes his home was the landing site of a meteorite — as do several other witnesses, according to NBC affiliate KCRA-TV.
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The Nevada County man was sitting on his couch and listening to music when he reportedly noticed something hit his home.
GoFundMe
Footage from a local Ring camera, first shared by KCRA and visible in the video above, appears to show a large glowing object falling from the sky near Procita's residence.
"I heard a big bang," he recalled, according the station and ABC affiliate KABC-TV. "I started to smell smoke."
Procita raced out to his porch and found it "completely engulfed in flames," he said.
The homeowner managed to escape the fire with one of his two dogs. He attempted to save the second, but said heavy fire and smoke prevented him from seeing inside.
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Penn Valley Fire Department Captain Josh Miller said multiple people appeared at the scene to see if a meteorite was to blame as fire officials battled the blaze.
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"I had one individual tell me about it first and I put it in the back of my mind but then more people — two, three, four — started coming in and talking about it," he explained, according to KCRA.
PEOPLE was not able to reach Clayton Thomas, a representative from Penn Valley Fire Protection District, for further comment on the blaze and its cause.
Procita and his wife Jeanette "lost everything" in the fire and did not have homeowners insurance, according to a GoFundMe for the couple, launched by Procita's mom, Cindy Blanchard.
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"All they have left is literally the clothes on their backs," she wrote. "Family is naturally helping as best we can, however, that will not be enough to cover all of the many expenses involved with such a disaster."
The campaign has raised over $9,000 as of Monday afternoon.
