SAN DIEGO – Two cats and a dog were killed in a fire that caused extensive damage to a home in the Rolando neighborhood early Tuesday morning.
The fire broke out before 1:41 a.m. at a single-story home in the 4900 block of 72nd Street. According to San Diego Fire-Rescue, a tow truck driver who was in a parking lot across the street saw the fire and helped an elderly woman who lives there get out safely. A neighbor tried to fight the fire with a hose.
Fire crews with SDFR and the La Mesa Fire Department responded to find smoke billowing from the home and flames coming out of several windows. It took them about 20 minutes to knock it down.
The homeowner told 10News she was alerted to the fire by one of her cats. When she went into the hallway, she noticed the flames.
"Well, one of my cats was yowling really loud,” she said. “So I woke up, and I thought, ‘geez, I'm way too hot.’ So I got up and went to the hallway, and the hallway was still full of smoke. So I raced out to the front room, everything was in flames."
The cause of the fire was electrical in nature, SDFR investigators determined. It was likely caused by an extension cord that had been left plugged into an outlet. The damage was estimated at $300,000.
