Block of ice falls from the sky into roof of Fremont house
Erin Ivie, The Argus
Posted: 06/12/2012 06:02:34 AM PDT
Updated: 06/12/2012 06:02:41 AM PDT
It's a bird, it's a plane -- it's ice?
Joshua Handjojo was playing basketball Sunday evening in Fremont when a big block of ice suddenly hurtled out of the clear, blue sky and smashed into the roof of his neighbor's home, leaving a manhole-sized crater and frozen chunks spread across the front yard.
"I was shocked," said the 15-year-old, who was playing ball with his 10-year-old sister at the time of the startling crash.
"It made a loud noise, like a ton of clay plates shattering."
No injuries were reported. The block shattered on impact and did not actually penetrate the house, Fremont police Sgt. Jeff Campbell said.
But a woman who was inside the house in the 700 block of Wichitaw Drive felt it shake, Campbell said.
"The block made a hole the size of a basketball in the ceramic tiles on the roof," Campbell said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said it is "possible, but not for certain" that the ice came from a passing aircraft.
He said such incidents are "rare but not unheard of."
Gregor said a manager from the FAA's Oakland office visited the home Sunday night, and the homeowner showed the official a chunk of clear ice she had put in her freezer. It wasn't blue, which would have indicated that it came from an airplane lavatory.
The FAA manager asked an air traffic control facility to review its radar data to determine if an aircraft could be responsible, Gregor said.
"If radar data shows aircraft were flying in that area around that time," Gregor said, "we would contact the operators and advise them to examine their aircraft for possible leaks in the galley area."
