RANCHO BERNARDO, Calif. – A man and women were injured and two pets killed in a cigarette-caused blaze that destroyed one condo and damaged another in Rancho Bernardo Monday morning.
The fire broke out around 7:20 a.m. in a first floor unit of a complex in the 112400 block of Avenida De Los Lobos, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue. The fire then spread to a condo on the second floor.
According to SDFR, the two residents of the first-floor condo initially heard the smoke alarm go off and ran outside. The man then ran back in to try and extinguish the blaze, while the woman ran in to grab her dog. She got disoriented and was found unresponsive by responding firefighters in a back bedroom.
The first-floor unit was destroyed and the second-floor unit sustained extensive damage to the walls and furniture, according to the woman who lives there.
"There's a drywall that's gone," the woman told 10News. "They were able to save my dining table and my shot glasses and my medals, my running medals. But everything else, I mean you can't live in it. I mean it's going to be a lot of clean up. The floor is all gone and wet and dirty."
The two residents of the first-floor unit were transported to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. One of the victims was in critical condition, SDFR said. Two of their pets, a cat and dog, were killed in the fire.
The SDFR Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) determined the blaze was caused by cigarettes that were not fully extinguished. The total damage was estimated at $500,000.
The Red Cross was assisting the woman in the second-floor unit with temporary housing.
