A house fire on Christmas night forced the evacuation of five adults and six children. The family told the North County Times it took just 15 minutes for fire to ruin their Christmas.
Joyce Murphy had just snuffed out the fire in the upstairs fireplace in the home she rents on San Tomas Drive around 7 p.m. Thursday night when she went downstairs to fix a leftover Christmas meal, she told the paper.
It took just minutes for the fire to kick in again, according to Murphy. The fire gutted the home and caused $500,000 in damage according to Oceanside firefighters. "Everything got burnt ---- all the presents," she said.
Murphy, six grandchildren and four other relatives got out of the home safely. Two dogs and two birds were saved but one cat was killed in the fire and another cat is missing.
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation Friday, Oceanside fire Battalion Chief Rob Dunham told the paper.
Read more at the North County Times.
