Illegal fireworks destroy Los Banos home ahead of 4th of July

LOS BANOS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Flames tore through a house in Los Banos on Sunday night.

"You never think it'd happen to you, but here we go. I never thought this would happen to me," said Juan Dicochea, who lives in the home.

He went to the grocery store and came back to see the unimaginable just a little before 10 pm.

"The tree was on fire, up there. And it just spread through the rest of the trees in the back, the back of the house. From what I was told from my children, they saw fireworks," said Dicochea.

His kids were inside the home when the fire started.

One of his sons acted fast, making sure no one was hurt.

One of his children had to be taken to the hospital because of the shock he was in.

Video from inside the home a day after the fire shows the top half of the house is damaged.

Across the street, neighbor Linda Higby heard the fireworks going off.

She stepped outside and noticed something was wrong.

"All of a sudden, I realized that there was ash, there were sparks floating across my backyard that shouldn't have been there. I step out into my backyard, and this tree is just totally engulfed," said Higby.

She immediately called 911 and says neighbors started watering trees to help keep the flames from spreading to more homes.

Now, as the family gathers what they can from the charred house, the Los Banos Police Department is conducting an arson investigation and looking for the person responsible for starting the fire.

"It's a real concern that you have for people, being irresponsible, celebrating the fourth, putting others in danger," said Los Banos Police Commander Justin Melden.

During the fire, officers say they found evidence that someone had been shooting off illegal fireworks at a nearby home.

Investigators say they found the same type of fireworks believed to have started the fire during a search of the home.

The police department already fined several people in the last few days for illegal fireworks, with those fines starting at $1,250 dollars.

The family whose home was destroyed tells Action News they don't have anywhere to go.

You can donate to the family's GoFundMe page by clicking here.

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