HAYDEN — Ron and Joann Gorniak live next door to the home that caught fire on the Fourth of July on the 2700 block of West Ashland Lane in Hayden. The Gorniaks had watched their neighbors shoot fireworks off in the street while walking home. 

They had considered watching from the porch before the fireworks set fire to the home next to theirs. 

The blaze displaced two people who were getting ready for bed.     

“I don’t know what they were thinking,” Ron Gorniak said. “They had Roman candles and they were charging each other. They were shooting them across the street towards us and our neighbor’s house.” 

The homeowners awoke to knocking and banging on the door shortly after 11 p.m. and firefighters and deputies arrived on the scene to discover a home fully engulfed by fire.  

Chris Larson, Northern Lakes Fire public information officer, said the fire was caused by aerial fireworks setting fire to a shrub within 5 feet of the house. The fire then carried through the eaves of the home, destroying much of the roof.  

He said witness reports indicate there were several unsafe practices taking place.    

“It is a lesson for people about fireworks. Minors were using Roman candles, holding them in their hands,” Larson said.   

Joann Gorniak said the neighbors who had set off the fireworks alerted the couple and got them out in time, giving them chairs and blankets as firefighters fought the blaze. 

“It’s a sad situation; it was not done on purpose,” she said.   

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said, “A person, or persons, using illegal fireworks are responsible criminally and civilly for any damage caused by the use of illegal fireworks. I am grateful the occupants were alerted and were not injured in this fire.” 

The sheriff's office is continuing to investigate.  

Debris was found on neighboring roofs after the fire, and curious onlookers visited West Ashland Lane to view the aftermath Friday afternoon.  

Larson noted there were two fires Northern Lakes Fire responded to on the Fourth of July involving shrubs, although the other fire didn't result in damage.

The couple displaced by the fire stayed with neighbors Thursday night and are now staying with family in the area.

“I’m just so sad for our neighbors,” Joann Gorniak said.    

    A bedroom is covered in debris after a fire in Hayden on the 2700 block of W Ashland Lane.
  

    Fireworks caused a home fire in Hayden in the 2700 block of West Ashland Lane last night around 11 p.m.
  

 

    A photo shows the missing roof of a home after a fire in Hayden on the Fourth of July.