LA PRESA, Calif. — A blaze sparked from a barbecue grill destroyed two homes Saturday in the La Presa neighborhood, fire officials said.
Police reported the fire on the 1600 block of San Bernardino Ave to San Miguel Fire & Rescue around 12:30 p.m.
Roddy Blunt, Battalion Chief for SMFD, told FOX 5 the grill fire started at one house and spread to the adjacent home. Blunt says firefighters continue to work to extinguish the flames, but have the fire contained to the two homes, which were called a “total loss.”
“What we did not want is a chain reaction going all the way down the street,” Blunt said.
The homeowners of the second house that was burned were out of town, the SMFD official added. No injuries were reported, according to Blunt.
FOX 5 spoke to neighbors who say they are pooling together gift cards, clothes and more for those affected. Loved ones also shared a GoFundMe page that’s helping raise money for repairs and replacing all the lost belongings of one of the families.
“I keep telling them is you got out with your lives, that’s all that matters,” neighbor Lauren Henson said. “Houses can burn down, you can tear them down, you can rebuild, renovate. We can’t bring you back.”
Henson said neighbors are doing what they can to be there for the families.
“We’re going to make sure they have everything that they need,” she said. “We’ve all got each others’ numbers now. We’re just trying to get clothes together for them and gift cards.”
The Red Cross is also on scene to assist.
“It’s a pretty devastating situation,” said Steve Deal of the Red Cross. “They’ve lived here a long time and that’s a lot of memories and they’re gone, so its tough, but they’re holding up really well.”
FOX 5’s Kelsey Christensen contributed to this story.