Family of 4 Flees Blaze That Destroys Garage on Lambda Lane; No Injuries

Updated at 9:30 a.m. March 24, 2012

Alerted by their garage door opening and closing repeatedly, a family of four escaped a fire mostly confined to their Lambda Lane garage early Saturday morning, authorities said.

“The quick attack by firefighters confined the fire to the garage”—sparing the main body of the La Mesa house, said Sonny Saghera, spokesman for the Heartland Fire & Rescue Department.

The blaze was still under investigation but the focus was on a small heating unit used for pets, according to a Heartland Fire & Rescue Department investigator.

Fire crews arrived to find the family outside, including two children—ages 3 and 5, Saghera said.

The family’s dog later was found in a neighbor’s yard, he said.

A brown Nissan Altima parked in the driveway was damaged by the heat, and contractors were already beginning to examine the single-story detached home for repairs by 8 a.m. Saturday.

One bedroom also was damaged by the fire in a neighborhood several blocks north of Parkway Drive in north-central La Mesa.

Damage was estimated at $250,000, officials said.

Heartland crews from La Mesa and El Cajon were dispatched at 2:21 a.m. to the 5700 block of Lambda Lane, Saghera said.

“Fire crews arrived in 6 minutes to discover heavy fire and smoke coming from the attached garage of a single story, single family residence,” he said.

He said crews stretched hose lines to the interior of the house and aggressively fought the fire, preventing it  from spreading to the interior of the home. 

Upon arrival, all residents were outside of the structure and unhurt when fire crews arrived-injured.  The garage door going up and down alerted the residents of the fire that allowed them to flee the residence safely.

The American Red Cross is helping the family displaced by the fire.