MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (KDKA) — At least seven couch fires were reported in Morgantown, W. Va., after a record-setting WVU win over Baylor over the weekend.

“Heard a huge explosion and I heard my roommate run out the house screaming, yelling and then we all came down, saw a huge fireball,” Joey Richmond, a witness, said.

He’s describing a fire that happened just after 5 a.m. Sunday on Cass Street. His roommate’s car was among two others that were destroyed in the fire.

“It was huge. It looked like from the windows that a house was on fire,” Lydia Kurtz said. “It was enormous.”

Setting couches on fire after a big win is somewhat of a tradition in Morgantown, but this damage – estimated at $36,000 – is something Morgantown Fire Chief Mark Caravasos believes wasn’t intentional.

“I think this was an unintended consequence of what was originally a malicious street fire.

Investigators believe someone set a couch on fire, set it in the open bed of a truck and then things quickly got out of hand.

The fire ruptured the gas tank and fuel rushed down the street, catching two other cars on fire.

West Virginia University is working to prevent couch fires and recently just released a PSA about them.

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