Meteorite Impact Allegedly Burnt and Destroyed California Man's House

A California man claimed that his house was burnt and destroyed when a meteorite hit it last week and after hearing a loud bang, according to media reports. The CA man named Dustin Procita, who owns the property in Penn Valley in a rural area in Northern California, reportedly attributed the space rock to be the cause of the fire. Procita evacuated his home at around 7:00 p.m. local time on Friday, November 9.

While meteorites, as well as asteroids, have struck residential areas in the past, the authenticity of the claim is being challenged by experts, according to a report. The scrutiny comes from the fact that meteorites are in fact cold contrary to popular belief and relatively disintegrate upon entering the Earth's atmosphere due to friction and interaction with its different layers.

Northern California House Destroyed

(Photo : GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP via Getty Images)

The Nevada County man blames the meteorite even if the Taurids meteor shower peaked during the last weekend and given the reported anecdotal evidence that contradicts the nature of meteorites. With this, Northern California officials are determining if the bright ball of light seen in the night sky last Friday was the same space object that landed on and destroyed the Pine Valley home, according to KCRA.

Procita told KCRA that he heard a big bang and started to smelled smoke. Based on last week's witnesses from all over the region who followed the path of the meteor in the sky to see where it landed, indicate that the path might have led to Procita's home, according to local media outlet. The Northern California man was inside his house with his two dogs when the apparent meteorite impact occurred.

The homeowner then went into his porch, which was set into blaze. While the burning of the house points toward the said meteorite strike, experts weigh in the potential reasons behind the incident.

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Hot Meteorites

Meteorite experts are doubtful about the explanation for the fire, as meteorites that strikes the ground are not as "blazing hot" as we might assume, according to Newsweek.

The said notion about meteorites being hot when they reach the ground is one of the big myths people believe in astronomy, according to Astrophysics Professor Jonti Horner, from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, who told the American online news magazine and digital news platform.

However, Procita adds that he also saw a video of a fireball in the sky around the time his house went into flames, describing the meteor looked "like a flaming basketball," as cited by The Guardian.

Meteorite Strikes

In recent years, astronomers have clarified that meteorite strikes on Earth are common than people actually think.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), scientists estimate that approximately 48.5 tons (44 tons or 44,000 kilograms) of meteoritic materials enter the Earth's atmosphere, where the meteorites are vaporizes and leaves a line of bright trail called "shooting stars."

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