Two bodies recovered in Mission Hills house fire

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — The bodies of two people were found in a Mission Hills neighborhood home that went up in flames Tuesday morning.  

At about 5 a.m. on Tuesday, SD Fire-Rescue Emergency Command and Data Center received several calls from neighbors in the area of Fort Stockton Drive and Stephens Street.

When crews arrived, they found a fully involved, single story residence at 1737 Fort Stockton Drive. Crews began exterior firefighting operations because of a heavy fuel load heavy fire activity. The high amount of items inside the home (heavy fuel load) made the fire burn very quickly and very hot which made it difficult for crews to extinguish.

Bystanders provided information that there were two people living inside the home and that possibly one of the residents was elderly and bedridden. Search efforts were complicated and delayed because of the extensive fuel load, large fire involvement, and various portions of the structure collapsed.

It took crews about 50 minutes to extinguish the fire. Once the fire was under control and the residence was deemed safe to enter, crews were able to complete search operations. The search resulted in the discovery of two deceased persons. As of 9:44 a.m. crews were in the process of conducting a secondary search to verify that there is no one else inside.

Once the victims are identified, the San Diego Police or the medical examiner will notify the family members.

Crews expect to be at the residence for at least a few hours. We do not know at this time if there was a smoke or carbon monoxide detection device in the home. Investigators from the Metro Arson Strike Team are on scene and will determine the cause of the fire. Damage to the structure is estimated at $250k and the loss of contents is estimated at $20k.

About 30 firefighters are assigned to this incident and none were injured while fighting the fire. There was a passerby who, while observing the activity at the residence, tripped and injured himself. He was treated by our medic unit and released at the scene.