House fire in Clinton Township may have been caused by lightning, fireworks say neighbors

CLINTON TWP., Mich. (FOX 2) - A neighbor's video in Clinton Township captured the intensity of the flames as the fire consumes this home on Meadows Court in the Rivergate Subdivision.

"I was very surprised fireworks going off during the day looked down there and the whole house was on fire," said John Doman.

FOX 2: "What was the response like from firefighters?"

"Oh man those guys were all over it," Doman said. "My neighbor over there is an inspector with the fire department and he ran down there with his shorts and T-shirt and jumped right in and was helping them out."

The family living at the home also jumped into action.

"The owners I don’t really know them, but they tried to put it out with a hose and it got out of control very quickly," said neighbor Derek Clements.

Many neighbors became concerned about their own property.

The fire marshal says right now that the incident is still under investigation.

And although fire officials have not confirmed the cause of this fire, FOX 2 spoke to a number of neighbors and we were told that the family living at the home sets off their own fireworks show every year.

Neighbors believe during Sunday’s rainstorm that lightning struck the home, causing it to catch fire and the fireworks on the property to explode.

"It started out sounding like thunder and then seeing all the fireworks going off and we said why is someone putting fireworks off in the middle of the day in a rain storm? And it just all went haywire," said Derek Clements.

Neighbors say as they look at the aftermath of the fire … they’re just grateful they did not lose any members of their community.

"That’s the main thing I don’t think anyone got hurt," Clements said.