Family whose roof collapsed during house fire trying to keep things in perspective
By Max Goldwasser, ABC 10News Digital Team
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SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego Fire Rescue Department responded to a house fire in a Rancho Bernardo neighborhood Wednesday afternoon.
It was a shocking scene for the Smith family, who’ve lived there for 14 years. The fire was also revealed to them by shockingly casual communication from one of their sons.
“Ok, so our house is on fire. That was the message,” Jared Smith, the father of five, said. “My daughter says, ‘HUH’? She’s away at college. Then he says, ‘We called 911.”
“On the way back from work, I was on the 56, and two fire trucks passed me,” Smith told ABC 10News. “So, I said, ‘Well, this can’t be good.'”
According to SDFD, firefighters responded to the 11600 block of Via Firul after receiving calls about the fire around 2:10 p.m. Two teenagers, ages 19 and 14, were inside the home when the fire started, and they saw smoke and heard the fire alarms go off.
The two called 911, and multiple agencies responded.
“Red Cross has been by. There’s so many fire trucks. The response is just amazing,” Smith said.
SDFD described the home as a single-family residential unit with two stories. The fire was contained in that home.
According to fire officials on the scene, the fire started in the attic before spreading to the roof. A firefighter suffered an injury when the roof collapsed. Officials told ABC 10News that the firefighter had been taken to the UC San Diego Burn Center to treat their minor injuries.
San Diego Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Mark Reece said crews are still trying to determine the cause, but they at least have an idea of what to investigate first.
“Per the homeowner, there was recent solar work done, or solar problems, solar-electric problems in the attic, which leads us to believe that that would be the cause or the source of this fire,” Reece said, “but we are still investigating that.”
At this point, the family who lives there is not sure what their plan is, but they can’t go back in. None of the family members were injured, and that’s what they are holding onto to keep everything in perspective.
“Maybe the devastation will come later, but again, it’s just stuff,” Smith said. “Everyone’s healthy. Everyone’s out.”
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