Meteorite not cause of California house fire, officials say

California hearth officers reportedly say {that a} home that caught hearth in rural Nevada County earlier within the month was not struck by a meteorite.

Penn Valley Hearth Safety District Captain Clayton Thomas instructed The Sacramento Bee on Monday that investigators have been wanting into the reason for the Nov. 4 hearth. 

“I’m very assured {that a} rock from house didn’t hit this home,” he instructed the outlet. 

Penn Valley Hearth Safety District, the CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit and others responded to the blaze within the Mooney Flat space close to Lake Englebright. 

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It took a number of hours to suppress the night hearth, which killed the household canine Tug and rabbits within the cattle ranch dwelling, in accordance with FOX 40. 

In a Fb publish, Penn Valley Hearth Safety District beforehand stated witnesses had reported {that a} “shiny object fell from sky instantly earlier than this occasion in the identical space.”

Social media customers shared pictures and video of a shiny yellowish gentle streaking throughout the sky, and NPR reported that neighbors instructed arriving firefighters that they’d heard a thunderous crash at about the identical time because the blaze is believed to have begun.

The house owner, Dustin Procita, instructed FOX 40 that he had heard a loud crash and a bang earlier than he began to odor one thing burning. 

“The smoke was popping out and the flames had been popping out and I used to be going to do my greatest to get my canine,” he recalled.

Nevertheless, Thomas reported investigators discovered no proof of an area rock impacting the construction. 

“We aren’t a meteor as a viable possibility at this cut-off date,” he instructed The Sacramento Bee. 

A member of the CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit on the scene
(Credit score: CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit/Twitter)

Nonetheless, the reason for the fireplace nonetheless has but to be decided. 

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Members of the family began a GoFundMe for Procita and his spouse Jeanette, who’re in search of a trailer to reside in whereas they rebuild. 

The web page says the pair wouldn’t have any householders or hearth insurance coverage “because of the rural space they reside in and the exorbitantly excessive premiums.”

“We’re nonetheless rummaging by means of the ruble in search of something salvageable in addition to the meteor itself. The hearth division, Air Pressure and NASA proceed to help with the search,” an replace to the web page stated.

The CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit responds to the California hearth
(Credit score: CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit/Twitter)

Talking to NPR, Thomas famous that Nov. 4 was the height of the Southern Taurid meteor bathe. 

And but, Robert Lunsford, the report coordinator for the American Meteor Society, stated the estimated trajectory associated to the flash of sunshine seen within the northern California sky put it a whole bunch of miles away from the Penn Valley home.

Most meteors deplete within the Earth’s environment and are a lot cooler — and often called meteorites — by the point they hit the bottom. 

In idea, NASA says the Taurids and Geminids might ship meteorites all the way down to our floor each occasionally, however no remnants have been traced to them definitively.

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Whereas the chances of somebody’s home being struck by a meteor are astronomically small, they aren’t zero. 

“However coincidence doesn’t equate to causation,” Thomas stated.

Fox Information Digital’s request for remark from Thomas and the Penn Valley Hearth Safety District was not instantly returned.