UPDATE: Suicide suspected after body found inside burned home
SAN DIEGO – Flames tore through a home in Del Cerro Tuesday, sending a thick plume of smoke into the air near the site of a brush fire that prompted residential evacuations and closed freeway lanes last weekend.
The blaze in the 5900 block of Bernadette Lane erupted shortly before 11 a.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Crews used a long truck-mounted ladder to douse the fire spreading through the two-story, red tile-roofed structure. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Residential 2nd alarm fire at 11am today. 5900 Bernadette Ln. Knocked down at 11:30am. Crews still on scene doing search of residence. Severe damage to the home. @heartlandfire assisted on this response. pic.twitter.com/fOXuD3Wrau
— SDFD (@SDFD) June 5, 2018
On Sunday afternoon, a fire sparked by children playing with a cigarette lighter blackened nearly 40 open acres in the same eastern San Diego community, spreading to within 10 feet of Interstate 8 and prompting a temporary closure of the westbound side of the freeway.
Police cleared residents out of about 80 homes as ground and airborne firefighters worked to subdue the brush fire, which burned north of San Diego State University, between College Avenue and Waring Road.