Fatal plane crash in San Diego neighborhood leaves ‘gigantic debris field,’ flames and fuel spill

A small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday morning, sparking intense flames that scorched several homes, mangled dozens of vehicles and forced almost 100 people to evacuate. Just before 8 a.m., fire officials confirmed that the only known fatalities from the crash were the private plane's occupants. It still wasn't clear exactly how many people were on board, but San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Assistant Chief Dan Eddy said there were at least two. The plane can hold eight to 10 passengers, he said. The plane crashed into a military housing community in the Murphy Canyon area just before 4 a.m. Thursday, Eddy said. “Crews arrived on scene to find multiple homes and cars on fire," Eddy said at a press conference. Firefighters have since been able to quell the flames, but at least 10 homes were destroyed and a block of vehicles — at least a dozen, according to footage from the scene — were left completely mangled, he said. Luckily, there have been no confirmed injuries or deaths among residents. “The good news that I do have right now is that we have not transported anyone from scene so far," Eddy said. However, he said crews were still double-checking the homes in and around Sample Street. “This is a worst case scenario: a plane into homes," Eddy said. He said the crash left behind a “gigantic debris field.” Images and video from the scene showed a massive hole in the side of a single-family home, with nearby cars almost completely flattened. The street was filled with blackened debris and unrecognizable vehicles. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said almost 100 people have been displaced from the crash and the area remains closed for continued investigations and cleanup. He called the efforts of first responders — who ran into the fiery scene as jet fuel was flowed down the street — "heroic." The private plane took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday and stopped for just under an hour in Wichita, Kansas, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. It was headed for Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, a general aviation airport owned by the city of San Diego and located less than three miles from the crash site. The FAA identified the plane was a Cessna 550, a fixed-wing multi-engine plane owned by a company in Alaska. It was built in 1985, according to FAA records. The National Transportation Safety Board was en route to investigate the crash, Eddy said. Times staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.