Home damaged by fireworks
MT. STAR- Authorities are searching for the person responsible for lighting a firecracker and throwing it into a Mt. Star resident’s bedroom window.
Reba Patrick, 86, said she was awaken early Thursday by what seemed like her bedroom television “crackling and popping.”
“I remember looking at the clock and it was 3:45 in the morning,” she said. “I believe the crash from the window is ultimately what woke me up.”
Patrick said she got up to check her television, but was surprised to find shattered glass and a lit firework at the foot of her bed.
Patrick said when she saw it, she stepped back and that is when the firework ignited, scattering glass from the window all over her bedroom and into her closet where remains from the firework were found after the incident.
“The next thing I know I heard a loud boom which made me go deaf for a minute,” she said. “My bedroom was filled with so much smoke I couldn’t even see my hands out in front of me.”
A piece of the firework also damaged Patrick’s dresser adjacent to the window.
Patrick said she had a pile of clothes near the foot of her bed and the firecracker actually set one of the garments on fire.
“After some of the smoke had settled, I noticed lots of smoke still coming from the pile of clothes I had set aside in my bedroom ready to be washed,” she said.
“I found one of the shirts on fire, so I scooped it up and rushed to my bedroom bathroom, put it in the sink and ran water on top of it.”
Patrick said she recalls hearing a car go by just before she heard the crash, but has no idea who could have done this.
Even though Franklin 56 runs close to her home, Patrick believes the firework wasn’t thrown from a car, but that someone purposefully walked onto her property, picked a window, and threw the firecracker through the window.
Patrick’s daughter, Judy Ory, said there are many older residents who live in the area and should be aware that acts of this nature are happening.
Ory said everyone in the community knows each other and has no idea who could have done this terrible act.
“It could have really ended up being a bad situation,” Ory said. “If she (Patrick) would have been in a deeper sleep it could have been an awful thing. We hope that these vandals will be caught by the law so that this won’t happen to anyone else.”
Deputies with the Franklin County Sheriff’s office took Patrick’s report and are continuing to look for those involved.
Anyone who may have had this happen to them or know any information leading to an arrest in this case are encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s office at 256-332-8811.
