SANTA MARIA - Restoration crews spent the morning cleaning up after the fire that gutted a large portion of the attic and roof of the home on East Daniel Drive.
"We had the neighbors on that side and the neighbors on the other side out with their hoses trying to douse before the firefighters got here", says neighbor Jason Castillo.
Investigators have determined the fire was started by illegal fireworks that landed on the roof sometime during the night.
"It was a bottle rocket very similar to this", says Santa Maria Fire Chief Dan Orr while holding an illegal bottle rocket in his hand, "it got stuck into the wood shake roof and the wood shake basically provides the fuel and this was the ignition source that caused the fire."
"The reason we know it was this (bottle rocket) is these little red sticks were found on the roof", Chief Orr adds.
Working smoke alarms are being credited with awakening the family inside and getting them out of the house before they got hurt.
"This was a family of five, all three children under the age of five, we're talking very small folks, this good have been devastating", Chief Orr says, "we feel very blessed that everybody got out safe."
The homeowners declined to talk about their harrowing ordeal that's now left them homeless for at least a year.
Preliminary damage estimates to the home and its contents are about $225,000.
"Those fireworks are illegal for a reason", neighbor Jason Castillo says, "be safe, think of your family, your kids and your neighbors, because something like this can happen in a heartbeat."
The Santa Maria Fire Department reminds everyone using illegal fireworks carries a penalty of up to a $1,000 fine and jail time.
