After the fire at a ranch in Northern California's Penn Valley, firefighters are investigating whether the building was hit by a meteorite.
"I heard a loud bang, smelled smoke, went out on the porch and suddenly I was surrounded by flames," rancher Dustin Procita told KCRA after the fire on Friday.
Neighbors gave the first indications that a meteorite had started the fire.
First, one of the nearly 2,000 residents reported a fireball in the sky.
Since then, other Californians have reported to the fire department who believed they had recognized a meteorite or asteroid shortly before the fire.
Some are also said to have captured the fireball over Procita's ranch with dash cams.
The Penn Valley Fire Department had tried in vain to put out the fire after the alleged impact.
Procita, who had been lying on the sofa until the first flames, lost his house and one of his two dogs.
According to the IFLScience website, about 6,000 meteorites fall on Earth every year.
However, their impacts often go unnoticed because they fall on oceans or uninhabited regions.
The probability of hitting a house is said to be about 200 times smaller than winning the lottery.
For the year 1954, however, a meteorite impact is considered occupied.
At that time, American Ann Hodges suffered bruises to her legs and hips when a chunk the size of a grapefruit slammed through the roof of her home in Alabama, ricocheting off a radio dresser and hitting her.