Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — Residents of a southeast Portland neighborhood say a meteor might have caused a small fire.
Patrick Story tells The Oregonian he was watching television Wednesday when he heard an explosion. A flash of light filled the room and his front lawn caught fire.
Story filled a cooking pot with water and doused the flames that left a patch of charred grass.
A neighbor, Marne Duke, says she was on her porch watching the Perseid meteor shower when she spotted a “white green flash of light” and heard a boom.
Dick Pugh is a field scientist for the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University. He doubts a meteor is to blame, explaining that they have been in space for billions of years at 300 degrees below zero. He says frostbite is a greater danger than a burn.
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