Wednesday, about 4:55 p.m. PST, my wife phoned me to say "Our house is burning, come home right away!" We hung up, and I realized I forgot to ask how the kids and pets were!! Later, as I was driving home, we talked again and I found out everyone was safe, including our pets.
According to news accounts, at 4:42 p.m. over the Grossmont/Fletcher Hills area of El Cajon/La Mesa, a Cessna 172RG and a Cessna 182 collided killing an instructor and student in one plane and a local orthodontist in the other. Wreckage and remains were scattered all over our neighborhood near Harry Griffen Park One of the wings fell in our front yard, just missing our next door neighbor who had just returned home. The wing was full of fuel and the fire spread up the exterior wall of our house and up into the attic through an attic vent under the eaves.
No one was home at the time. My son was picked up for swim team practice by his grandmother at 4:30 p.m. My wife and daughter were at her violin lesson, and returned home about 4:50 p.m. Our block was cordoned off, so they had to park their truck and walk to see what was happening. They hadn't heard about the accident, and at first didn't know it was our house on fire. They got close enough to see and soon after my wife called me. After letting the fire-fighters know their location, they got all of our pets out of the house safely. Our Lab Toby, 2 cockatiels and a parakeet, and a California Gopher tortoise were in the house and they are all fine.
Our neighbors were fantastic. They rushed to our house with garden hoses and fire extinguishers and were battling the fire until the fire department arrived. They soon had it under control. A neighbor from a couple blocks away was an military fire-fighter and he actually got into our house and on the roof to ventilate it. Their actions probably helped save our house from total destruction. Later the fire investigators said our double-glazed windows were a big factor in preventing a burn through to the interior. The fire was pretty much confined to the attic/roof.
The attic and roof are pretty much destroyed. Water damage is extensive to the walls and flooring. Our belongings didn't suffer any fire damage, just some smoke/water. Most of our furniture is recoverable. We found out how good our insurance is...We are covered for everything we could imagine and a lot we couldn't imagine!! We are currently staying with my mother-in-law, but we will get a rental house soon to live in while our house is being rebuilt.
We are very thankful that our family and pets are safe and healthy, and we thank God that no one on the ground was injured. Our prayers go out to the families that lost their loved ones in the crash. Our family, friends, church and co-workers have been very generous in their offers of help and support and we are so thankful for them too. A lot of people in our neighborhood witnessed the crash and horrible results, including children, and are still traumatized by the experience. Please pray for them too.
This url is to one of the local newspaper accounts of the crash:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060208-2335-planecrash.html
I'll have my personal photos up tomorrow, but for now here's some from a local TV station:
You can see the wing in the front yard on the left, and the scorched part where the flames from the fuel went up into the attic through the eave vents. The last picture with the map shows how the wreckage was disbursed through the neighborhood.
Wow, amazing. What a blessing that nobody was home. Won't you have a story to share the rest of your life?? Thanks for providing pics and again, glad you and yours are safe and sound
Posted by: JP | February 25, 2006 at 12:54 PM