A cigarette left smoldering in a planter box was the root of a house fire in Mission Hills Wednesday morning, officials said.
Just after 2:30 a.m. crews with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) were called to Hortensia Street to douse flames engulfing a home’s attic.
Fire investigators said someone had tossed a cigarette in a planter box outside the house. Unattended, the smoldering cigarette sparked a small fire in the mulch inside the planter box. The fire then crept up the home's wall and into the attic.
Firefighters attacked the flames by cutting a hole in the roof of the home and were quickly able to knock out the fire.
SDFD Battalion Chief Ted Moran told NBC 7 at least one resident was home at the time of the fire. She was able to safely escape. When firefighters arrived, they found a woman out front, trying to help put out the flames with a garden hose.
“She’s uninjured,” Moran said. “And she’ll be staying with some neighbors tonight.”
Neighbors said the homeowne's daughter may have also been home, visiting her mother at the time of the incident.
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Moran said the fire caused an estimated $50,000 worth of damage to the home’s exterior and $10,000 worth of damage to the interior.
Moran said it’s always difficult to see residents displaced by any sort of fire any time of the year, but it’s even tougher to see something like this happen around the holiday season.
