An Alan Drive family returned from a meal out on Nov. 22 to find their home in flames.
The Orion Township Fire Department and Oakland County Sheriff’s Department both responded to the scene after a neighbor called 911. According to an OCSD report, when the deputy arrived the front of the house was fully involved in the fire. No one was at home at the time the fire occurred.
The homeowner, a 42-year-old man, said his family had gone out to dinner and while they were at the restaurant, they received a phone call from their neighbor telling them they’d better come home.
The OCSD asked the man if he’d done anything different or unusual before leaving his home, and he said he’d put up Christmas lights but not plugged them in.
A 27-year-old neighbor man said he was checking his barbecue when he saw smoke coming from his neighbor’s garage. He called 911, and reported seeing “fire everywhere” when he looked in the kitchen windows. An OCSD helicopter scanned the wooded area near the home with an infrared night camera, but found no one.
A fire investigator from the OCSD was requested at the scene.