The moment a man’s house was allegedly destroyed by a meteorite: “I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it landing in my backyard.” VIDEO

A man believes the huge fire that destroyed his house was caused by a meteorite. Dustin Procita says images of a light resembling a “flaming basketball” in the sky are evidence of the meteorite crash.

The images show a ball of light falling from the sky as the man’s house was destroyed.

“Meteorite, asteroid… one of the two”

Officials have yet to rule out the possibility, with Captain Josh Miller of the Penn Valley Fire Department, USA, stating, “Not ruled out as a hypothesis: meteor, asteroid… one of the two.”

Police and firefighters rushed to the scene in northern California, where images of a destroyed property later emerged.

Penn Valley fire crews were called out at 7:26 p.m. on Nov. 4. They were able to contain the fire after three hours, with help from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Procita, who lives in Nevada County with two dogs, told NBC affiliate KCRA that she heard “a big explosion.”

He said, “I started smelling smoke and I went out on my porch and it was completely engulfed in flames.”

NBC distributed video footage of what appeared to be a fireball and showed it to Procita.

“A basketball on fire”

After seeing the clip, he said, “Oh wow, it looks like a flaming basketball coming from the sky.”

He added: “I heard a big explosion. I started smelling smoke and I went out on my porch and it was completely engulfed in flames.”

“They said it was a meteorite. I always watched for meteor showers and stuff when I was a kid, but I certainly didn’t look forward to it landing in my yard or through my roof.”

Cal Fire spokeswoman Mary Eldridge said a dog died in the fire, which also destroyed the house, a trailer and a pickup truck.

Authorities do not know the cause of the fire, but are investigating whether a meteorite may have fallen from the sky onto Mr. Procita’s home.

Fire Captain Clayton Thomas said: This is a potential cause, but it is too early to determine a specific one. I can say that during the incident many people approached the fire department to say they saw a potential meteorite falling in that area.”

“What we haven’t seen yet is any video footage or any witnesses to say it hit an actual structure.”

Captain Thomas added that it could take several weeks for the department to determine a cause, according to NBC.