Small civilian jet crashes in Murphy Canyon, setting homes and cars on fire

SAN DIEGO A small civilian jet crashed into a military housing complex in Murphy Canyon during foggy weather early Thursday setting multiple homes on fire as well as vehicles and forcing evacuations along several blocks agents commented We have jet fuel all over the place Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy explained during a news conference Our main goal is to search all these homes and get everybody out right now He noted there is a direct hit to multiple homes in the Murphy Canyon neighborhood and described a gigantic debris field in a dense packed neighborhood Eddy declared it was very foggy at the time the private plane crashed You could barely see in front of you he revealed Christopher Moore who lives one street over from the crash site announced he and his wife were awakened by a loud bang and saw smoke when they looked out the window They grabbed their two young children and ran out of the house On their way out of the neighborhood they saw a car engulfed in flames The Cessna jet crashed about a m on approach to the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport the Federal Aviation Administration stated The number of people on board is unknown at this time the FAA disclosed in a comment The plane can carry six to eight people The northbound Interstate off-ramp to Aero Drive was temporarily shut down All southbound lanes of the freeway near Santo Road were also temporarily closed according to Caltrans The crash ignited large fire at a two-story house and damaged at least a dozen more homes Over firefighters converged on the area and by a m the fires had been extinguished A temporary evacuation center for neighborhood residents was set up at Shields St at Miller Elementary School Both Hancock and Miller elementary schools will be closed Thursday Child care for both schools will be provided at Miller Elementary The FAA explained the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the inquiry of the crash In October a twin-engine plane plowed into a San Diego suburb killing the pilot and a UPS delivery driver on the ground and burning homes It was preparing to land at at the airport Updated at a m Thursday May The Associated Press City News Provision and OnScene TV contributed to this article