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EL CAJON, Calif. — A man was pulled from a burning home in El Cajon Friday morning, fire officials confirmed.
Fire crews responded around 3 a.m. to a resident located in a cul-de-sac on Ellen Lane, which is in the southwest corner of the city.
The El Cajon Police Department arrived on scene first and helped a man, the homeowner, out of the burning house. Fire officials say he’s uninjured.
The affected resident, an elderly man, told FOX 5’s Elizabeth Alvarez that he has a wood shop in an area of his garage. This section of the home is where fire officials believe the fire originated.
“The bulk of the fire is put out, however, due to the conditions and the amount of contents in the shop — in the garage — we’re having to continue to dig through and pull things out so we can completely get the fire out. We call that our overhaul period,” explained Battalion Chief Dave Hardenburger with Heartland Fire & Rescue.
Around 5:45 a.m., fire units were still on scene. Hardenburger said a few flareups occurred as crews worked to dig through the shop area and get to the seed of the blaze.
“We do have the upper hand, we do have this fire fully surrounded. We’re going to have it wrapped up probably in the next two hours,” the battalion chief told FOX 5. ” We did have a roof collapse, so that does limit our ability to get in because of the safety. We don’t want to put people underneath where that remaining roof could collapse again.”
The good news is his house is habitable, according to fire officials.
“So it (the fire) was actually contained to the garage in a shop that’s kind of built adjacent to the outside of the house. So the house is in good shape. He’ll be able to go back into the house as soon as our operation’s done here,” said Hardenburger.
A neighbor to the elderly man, Becky Munnally, recounted the moment she saw the flames next door.
“I saw orange and thought, ‘this can’t be sunrise yet.’ And so I looked out the window and saw the flames. So I called 911 and then I went out with a garden hose because I wanted to keep it down until they got here, and they (firefighters) were very, very fast.”
Munnally told FOX 5, rescuers had to knock the door down to get her neighbor out of the home.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
FOX 5’s Elizabeth Alvarez contributed to this report.
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