California man believes meteor may have destroyed his home

Publish date: 2024-08-01

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Now that’s a real kick in the asteroid.

A Northern California home burst into flames and burned to the ground after a meteor — which witnesses saw flash across the sky — apparently fell from space and slammed into the structure, according to reports.

Dustin Procita, a rancher in Nevada County, wasn’t sure what had hit his home Friday until after firefighters extinguished the blaze.

“I heard a big bang. I started to smell smoke and I went on to my porch and it was completely engulfed in flames,” Procita told KCRA.

“They said it was a meteor. I watched meteor showers and stuff as a kid, but I definitely didn’t look forward to them landing in my yard, or through my roof,” he added.

Procita had just returned inside after feeding some crows and was sitting on the couch listening to music when the mysterious object hit his home.

Firefighters in California continue to investigate what hit Procita’s home, starting the fire. Twitter/@CALFIRENEU

While scrambling away from rapidly growing flames, Procita was only able to save one of his two dogs. The second dog, named Tug, died in the fire, according to a GoFundMe.

After the puzzling incident, Procita was shown videos taken by others in the region who had spotted the bright ball of light moving across the dark night sky.

“Definitely feel very lucky that it was 30 feet away from me and not five,” he said, adding that what he had seen in the videos looked “like a flaming basketball.”

According to NASA, the southern Taurids meteor shower peaks this week. The cosmic display, also called “Halloween Fireballs,” produces the brightest meteors in the night sky each year from September to November.

The Penn Valley Fire Department and the state agency Cal Fire are investigating what started the blaze at Procita’s home, located in a rural area where many ranchers and cattle farmers have lived for multiple generations.

What officials believe was a meteorite destroyed Procita’s home in rural Nevada County. Facebook/Michelle Bandur KCRA
Footage taken from a Ring camera in the region showed a bright light shooting across the sky and landing near Procita’s property KCRA TV

“Meteorite, asteroid — one of those two,” the fire department’s captain, Josh Miller, told the TV station. “I had one individual tell me about it first and like, OK, I’ll put that in the back of my mind.”

“But then more people — two, three or four more — started coming in and talking about it.”

Penn Valley firefighters received a call for a structure fire in a remote area around 7:30 p.m. — around the same time witnesses reported seeing a meteorite in the area.

“Everyone I talked to said it was a flaming ball falling from the sky and landed in that general area,” Miller said.

Dustin Procita, a Nevada County rancher, said the apparent meteor looked like a “flaming basketball.” KCRA TV
Firefighters from several departments fought the blaze, which took the life of one of Procita’s pet dogs. Twitter/@CALFIRENEU

Since it was in a secluded location, firefighters with the Smartsville Fire Department and CalFire aided in the firefight.

Even though Halloween has passed, Procita said the fireball hitting his home may be a sign of luck.

“They say it’s a 1 in 4 trillion chance, so I guess I might be buying a lottery ticket today,” he joked.

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