FERGUSON, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
A Ferguson woman received threatening text messages early Sunday morning. A few hours later, her car and home were on fire. Luckily, Melissa Pontius, 22, got out of her home in 800 block of Ellsworth alive and her 14-month old daughter was not home at the time.
"It was really scary," she said. "I've never seen a fire up close and that personal and that hot. I could literally feel the heat through the glass of my bedroom window. My bed was literally, probably 3 feet away from this fire. It was scary."
"We found heavy fire in the rear of the building," said Ferguson fire chief, Steve Fair. "It had progressed up into the roof and ceiling area."
From the look of things on the side of the house, where the siding appeared melted in the area of the electrical service, it seemed as if it could have been an accident; perhaps an electrical problem sparking the fire.
Things looked much different around back where Pontius Lexus was burned out below the carport. She believed someone torched her car first, then the flames spread to the house.
"It was loud. It sounded like a bomb or maybe the gasoline blowing up," she said.
She figured it was the gas tank exploding. It woke her up; the neighbor, too.
"Next thing I know my whole bedroom is glowing, I looked out the flames were just rolling from underneath the carport," said neighbor, Mike Janowski. "Once the flames caught underneath the carport, it just moved into the house."
Firefighters called the St. Louis County Bomb and Arson unit to investigate; the fire labeled suspicious. Pontius was just glad her 14 month old daughter was at her grandmother's and not in the house.
"All her clothes are gone," said Pontius's grandmother, Linda Hance. "The baby's bed is gone. Everything's gone."
"The house is pretty much going to be a total loss," Fair said.
Pontius and her family had little doubt about the cause.
"I had threatening text messages about midnight, about 3 hours before everything happened," she said.
"He had sent her a text message before saying he was going to do it," Hance said. "That was a few months back."
Investigators did not name a suspect or identify the person who allegedly sent those text messages.
"It was really scary," she said. "I've never seen a fire up close and that personal and that hot. I could literally feel the heat through the glass of my bedroom window. My bed was literally, probably 3 feet away from this fire. It was scary."
"We found heavy fire in the rear of the building," said Ferguson fire chief, Steve Fair. "It had progressed up into the roof and ceiling area."
From the look of things on the side of the house, where the siding appeared melted in the area of the electrical service, it seemed as if it could have been an accident; perhaps an electrical problem sparking the fire.
Things looked much different around back where Pontius Lexus was burned out below the carport. She believed someone torched her car first, then the flames spread to the house.
"It was loud. It sounded like a bomb or maybe the gasoline blowing up," she said.
She figured it was the gas tank exploding. It woke her up; the neighbor, too.
"Next thing I know my whole bedroom is glowing, I looked out the flames were just rolling from underneath the carport," said neighbor, Mike Janowski. "Once the flames caught underneath the carport, it just moved into the house."
Firefighters called the St. Louis County Bomb and Arson unit to investigate; the fire labeled suspicious. Pontius was just glad her 14 month old daughter was at her grandmother's and not in the house.
"All her clothes are gone," said Pontius's grandmother, Linda Hance. "The baby's bed is gone. Everything's gone."
"The house is pretty much going to be a total loss," Fair said.
Pontius and her family had little doubt about the cause.
"I had threatening text messages about midnight, about 3 hours before everything happened," she said.
"He had sent her a text message before saying he was going to do it," Hance said. "That was a few months back."
Investigators did not name a suspect or identify the person who allegedly sent those text messages.
