Floating lanterns blamed for fire that destroyed 2 Mesquite homes

Floating lanterns are often released during celebrations and festivals as symbols of luck and prosperity, but they brought the opposite for two Mesquite families and fire officials are blaming them for two house fires last week.

"I was born and raised in this house," said Michelle Sullivan. "My whole family lived on the street."

Sullivan still lives on Candise Court and says that for years, her aunt and uncle owned one of the homes that caught fire last Thursday night.
"By the time we got down here, the flames were so high, they were probably 20 feet in the air," said Sullivan.

Two homes were destroyed, but firefighters were able to contain the blaze before it spread to nearby houses.

"There's a family that lives there that has a special-needs daughter, and she's in a wheelchair," Sullivan said. "Both of these families are working-class families, and they could use any assistance at all to help them because they got out with their lives, but they're going to have to rebuild."

While the neighborhood raises money to help them, fire investigators say the likely cause of the fire was floating lanterns released from an unknown location, possibly from Balch Springs or southeast Dallas.

"Several witnesses said that one of them got hung up in the tree in between the two houses, and apparently, it dropped the fuel pod down in between the two houses, and it started debris on fire, which spread to both houses," said Edward Rose, a Mesquite Fire Department Arson Investigator. "I've been in the fire department 30 years and doing investigations for 18, this is a first for me."

Fire officials say floating lanterns may look harmless, but they can travel long distances before landing, creating a serious fire risk.

"Don't. Don't do them. I mean, it's something you don't ever think about: where they have to come down," Rose said. "It kind of reminds me of how someone says you shoot a gun up in the air, the bullet has to come down somewhere. Well, if you release anything into the air, it's got to come down."

Sullivan says her neighbors were lucky to get out safely and hopes their loss serves as a warning to others.