Lisa Nollie was cooking late last Saturday night in her home 531 Stevens Road in the Morrisville section of Falls Township while her husband was at work. It was a bit late for her, but nothing out of the ordinary. Outside, she heard some fireworks while she made her way to a fridge to get some ingredients and spotted flames in the area of her carport.

“I said: ‘what is that?'” Nollie recalled Friday.

“I ran outside and the house was on fire,” she said. “I panicked, of course, and ran and called 9-1-1.”

Firefighters and police rushed to the scene and her neighbor helped safely remove her 14-year-old dog from the burning home.

Within minutes of spotting the flames, the home that Nollie shares with her husband, Riley, and adult son, Josh, was up in flames and several of their vehicles were on fire. Explosions erupted from several items in the home, including a lawn mower and ATV. The ATV was owned by Josh Nollie, a corrections officer in Montgomery County and a private bodyguard who was in Miami for job training.

On Thursday, police arrested 23-year-old Falls resident Abraham Kalilu Keita Jr., who may be in the country illegally, and charged him with arson. Three teen boys from Lower Makefield are expected to be charged as juveniles next in connection with the arson fire that was started by fireworks.

According to court papers, Keita told police he was lighting fireworks Saturday night with the teens. At one point in the night, he threw a small firework that emits flaming sparks at the Nollie’s home.

The firework landed in the carport and quickly spread, Fire Marshal Rich Dippolito said.

About 10 minutes prior to the fire at the Nollies’ home and just down the street, police took a report that fireworks were thrown on their porch and burnt a welcome mat. The next day, a resident found firework damage on their porch that was likely from Saturday night, Dippolito’s said.

A brief description of the teens and Keita relayed by multiple neighbors following the fire helped police catch the group. Dippolito said tips from social media and LevittownNow.com readers along with detective work from police helped crack the case.

Lt. Hank Ward said Keita and the teens continued to light fireworks after the fire and are linked to a small brush fire at Rock Springs Apartments in the 900 block of West Trenton Avenue. The fireworks are believed to have led to a brush fire.

The brush fire led to police rounding up the defendants and identifying who was allegedly involved in the fire.

The small fireworks linked to the blaze – called a “Proton Blast” fountain – was stolen by Keita and a group of teens from the Giant Food Store in Morrisville Borough shortly before the fire. While the fireworks were legal in Pennsylvania, it is not illegal for minors to possess them, officials said.

The teens and Keita were playing with fireworks on a lark, Ward said.

“This was not targeted. They didn’t know the people who lived on the street,” Ward said. “They just thought they would walk down the street.”

Ward said he was not clear why the teens were hanging out with Keita, who is from Liberia, due to the several-year age gap.

Lisa Nollie said area residents have come out helped her family through the tough time. She said she’s meeting some neighbors for the first time in the 17 years her family has lived on Steven Road.

“The outpouring of support has been phenomenal. I’m meeting people I’ve never met in my neighborhood,” she told reporters, adding one woman donated clothes just a short time after the fire.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by one of Josh Nollie’s former co-workers to help the family while they work with their insurance company.

Lisa Nollie replied to a reporter’s question that she wants Keita and the teens prosecuted but had mixed feelings.

The group, according to Ward, likely did not expect to burn down a house but they should have known better when playing with fireworks.

Ward and Dippolito said Falls authorities deal with minor fires and injuries connected to fireworks every single year. They added that this year police will be cracking down on illegal fireworks.

“We will have zero tolerance for fireworks. If you are choosing to detonate illegal fireworks in Falls Township, do not do it,” Ward said, adding a fireworks incident could lead to injuries.

Keita was arraigned early Thursday and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $25,000 bail. Ward said Falls police had handed the immigration investigation over to federal authorities so it can be sorted out.