SPACE INVADER

California Man Blames Meteor for Fire That Destroyed His Home

Witnesses saw a “flaming ball falling from the sky” before the blaze.

A man in California says the house fire that destroyed his home last week might have been caused by a meteorite. Dustin Procita of Nevada County said he heard a “big bang” at his home last Friday night. “I started to smell smoke and I went onto my porch and it was completely engulfed in flames,” he told ABC 7. Witnesses told Procita they’d seen a “flaming ball falling from the sky” before the blaze. Captain Josh Miller of the Penn Valley Fire Department said he was initially skeptical of the reports that a meteorite was to blame. “I had one individual tell me about it first and like, okay, I’ll put that in the back of my mind,” Miller said. “But then more people—two, three or four more started coming in and talking about it.”