A mother and her teen daughter safely escaped a blaze at their Oceanside home that destroyed a garage and caused an estimated $250,000 in damage on Sunday morning.
Smoke was reported at the home in the 700 block of Valley Crest Drive around 6:30 a.m., according to Peter Lawrence, Battalion Chief of the Oceanside Fire Department.
A woman and her 15-year-old daughter who were inside the residence were able to escape the flames after being alerted by a smoke detector, Lawrence said. Neither of the pair was injured and the woman was able to call 911 from her cellphone once they reached safety.
Firefighters arrived and found heavy smoke and flames coming from the single story home's two-car garage.
The blaze proved difficult to extinguish because the garage's tile roof had collapsed and it took 25 firefighters 40 minutes to put the flames out, Lawrence said.
Coupled with heavy smoke and flames, the fire reportedly sent numerous aerosol paint cans exploding from the garage, landing 100 feet away. Lawrence said one of the cans narrowly missed a firefighter and dented one of the fire trucks.
In total, the blaze completely destroyed the home’s garage and a 2002 Honda SUV that was inside.
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Parts of the home were left with heavy smoke damage and the kitchen and dining room areas suffered minor damage as well, Lawrence said.
The blaze caused an estimated $150,000 in damage to the structure and $100,000 in damage to content in the home, according to a report.
The cause of the fire was accidental and was attributed to battery chargers inside a work bench in the garage, investigators said.
The Red Cross was called to assist the woman, her daughter and a third occupant of the residence who wasn't home when the blaze began.
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