Man, 38, Blames Himself For Burning Down Parents' House
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A Tinley Park man was dreading the conversation he would have to have with his parents about their house this week.
Jonathan Harroun, 38, woke up from an afternoon nap in the house he shares with his parents Tuesday, to hear yapping from his two Yorkshire terriers, Rocky and Cupcake.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports
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Since the dogs only bark at strangers, Harroun came down from the second-story bedroom of the home, in the 17200 block of 87th Court in Tinley Park, and found the garage engulfed in a raging fire.
The flames were spreading to the upstairs bedrooms fast.
The blaze was fierce enough that it took firefighters 40 minutes to put it out, and the house was left uninhabitable. All three second-floor bedrooms were mostly destroyed, the garage door burned off the roof of its track, and the insulation melted off the side of the house.
Standing across the street watching the firefighters work, and talking to the SouthtownStar, Harroun said "he was happy to be alive until tomorrow, when I find out my parents don't want me anymore."
This is because he is pretty sure the fire started in a garbage can into which he had dumped an ashtray after having a cigarette.
WBBM Newsradio found Harroun at work Wednesday, and he didn't feel like talking on the radio. But when asked how his parents reacted, he said they were "somewhat OK with it," but he added they were not happy.
The SouthtownStar contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.
