ORANGETOWN - Hours after an SUV slammed into his house and ignited a fire that destroyed his family's home, Martin McMahon was digging into his front yard with a shovel to put his mailbox back up.

The Pearl River resident wasted no time working to rebuild while authorities try to piece together what happened on Sickletown Road early Friday.

Orangetown police said 33-year-old Jude Donnelly of Blauvelt fled the scene after driving his SUV into the ranch-style home at the corner of Blue Hill Road. He was eventually arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an accident, and more charges are possible as the investigation continues, police said.

McMahon lives in the house with his wife and their three children, ages 15 to 24. He said the crash occurred around 2 a.m., and his 21-year-old daughter, who was awake because she was sick, saw the black SUV drive from Blue Hill Road through the T-intersection, across their front yard and into the two-car garage in their home.

"Heard a loud bang," he said as a few family friends arrived at the house shortly before 8 a.m. "At the same time my daughter ran into the room, she's screaming, 'someone hit the house.' Smoke. Fire. Just grabbed what I could, we ran out the front door. Car's halfway through the house, on fire. Thought there was someone in it.

"We spent a few minutes trying to open the doors, we couldn't, tried to break the windows, we couldn't. There was no one in it. Whoever it was already had ran. That's really what bothers me."

Police said they were called to the house at 2:05 a.m. and officers found a fire under the SUV, which was wedged into the house.

Michael Donovan, a spokesman for Orange and Rockland Utilities, said their workers responded around 2:15 a.m. He said the SUV hit a gas meter and started a fire that quickly spread throughout the house.

When first responders arrived they were not sure if anyone was in the SUV, but after a few minutes of trying to get into the SUV they realized it was empty, Donovan said.

An officer and the homeowner tried to put out the fire, police said, but the flames spread with the help of the damaged gas main.

Orange and Rockland workers shut off the gas valve in the yard and the blaze was knocked down by a few fire departments, he said. The SUV was towed and impounded by the police, Donovan said.

Police said firefighters from Pearl River, Nanuet, Orangeburg, West Nyack, Nyack, Tappan and Montvale responded, as well as Pearl River Ambulance, Rockland Paramedic Services, the Rockland County Technical Rescue Team, the Rockland County Sheriff's Department, Orangetown fire inspector and building department, and the Red Cross.

Twitter: @MattSpillane