SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Neighbors just a block away from Sample Street woke up early Thursday morning to what felt like an earthquake, only to see flames roaring from the street over on Sculpin Street in Murphy Canyon.
“I pulled the blinds open and all we could see at that point was just, heard the plane coming in, just heard an explosion,” Josh Minster said.
“It was just beaming — like, you saw these lights. lt was the yellow light from the fire,” Ronald Jones said.
Both Jones and Minster, who are next-door neighbors, told ABC 10News both families got their children and belongings together.
“Oh no, we've got to tell the neighbors what’s going on, so, bam, I’m running up and down the street banging on the doors,” Jones said.
Both sprang into action.
“Guess I just reacted and I said 'I’m heading up there,'” Minster said.
“He’s my neighbor here [referring to Minster], ran around with a water hose. I’m talking about through the flames, through the fire and he’s putting out, trying to put out cars with his water hose,” Jones said.
Minster said the initial aftermath was something he had never seen before.
“Felt like something you’d see out of a movie, of just small, like I said, it was just battle damage, a little bit everywhere," he said. "Small little fires, and just looked down the street, we were actually, you could see where that truck was in the house. lt was just like never seen something like it before.”
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Minster said there was no second-guessing to help.
“It’s a team effort. There were several of us up there that were grabbing hoses, hooking things up, just trying to contain it until the fire department could get here,” Minster said. “All of us are trained on board ships. Fire happens, we run to it. Just start helping out any way we can. It’s what we do. It’s what we do in the military."
Jones also told ABC 10News another neighbor was helping others by using a ladder and a trampoline in their backyard to help others jump the fence away from the fires from the crash.
