A fire that started just before 5 a.m. Saturday engulfed a couple's home on Standish Drive near Waltham in what is called the Garden Road neighborhood of Poway.
The couple got out safely through a back bedroom window, along with their pet bunny rabbit, neighbor Ron Hagen said.
He said he thought the loud popping sounds during the fire may have been caused by the couple's pool cleaning solutions. The man who lived in the house reportedly cleans aquariums for a living.
Hagen lives across the street from the burning house and said he was one of the first people on the scene.
Another neighbor who lives next door said deputies from the Sheriff's Department knocked on their door, woke them up and told them to leave.
"If you walked out of the house, you could just see a wall of flame. You could feel it," Christina Yen described.
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Yet another neighbor, Curtis Green, said he saw the orange glow from his bedroom and, given the fire conditions, his first thought was a wildfire. He said he was ready to get out with his wife and infant son.
The Poway Fire Department were aided by San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and the San Diego Sheriff's Department.
"It's pretty incredible to see all the effort that goes into it," Green said.
The house was at a total loss, according to the Poway Fire Department.
The man living in the house said he did not have renter's insurance and added the rabbit was pretty shaken.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation.
