Kicker: Mysterious deck fire

NICK EICHER, HOST: A family in Arkansas woke up to a house full of smoke last week scary but no ordinary house fire.

CBS 5 talked to John Devane, the homeowner.

JOHN DEVANE: I was searching the house, I even got up in the attic like looking, where’s this smoke all coming from?

They finally found a smoldering hole on the back deck. The flames had melted their hot tub which is bad, but in doing so, it released a massive quantity of water and doused the fire. Devane suspected a meteorite and he tested his theory by dropping a magnet.

DEVANE: I literally went like that, and like that, and like that, and it clicked, and like I got a bite, and there it was.

Yep, an inch-wide metal rock. Had to be from outer space. It really grabbed, too!

That’s metal! WOW!

Still, only one way to be sure: The U.S. Geological Survey will have to examine and confirm it. But it’s going to take a year or more because of the backlog.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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