My Neighbor was sleeping when another neighbor knocked on his door. When he came outside, he found his house had caught fire. At 11:37a I called 911 after I heard 'popping' sounds outside my window, when I opened the blinds I saw what first, from my angle, looked as if his car was on fire. I saw flames at the back of his car (backed in) and the garage door was open. I immediately called 911 even though another neighbor was on the sidewalk also on the phone, presumably calling 911.
The flames quickly climbed up the corner of the house and into the soffit and attic. The fire, after talking to my neighbor later, started from items he had stacked for a garage sale and were at the corner of his house just outside the garage.

Note: Weather was dry and warm, upper 70's. One of the items set aside, as stated by the homeowner, was an old TV set which he said was facing the sun. Afterwards, we looked inside the frame of the old TV and found something much like a magnifying lens about 2 inches in diameter.

Question: So could the sun have made it through to the mag. lens past the shadow of the car and ignite the materials of the old TV itself and possibly other material in the stack of garage sale items leading to the fire?
As far as I know this fire is still under investigation.
-S. Southard
Posted May 9, 2010.