Man Killed In Escondido House Fire

ESCONDIDO, CA — A man has died in a fire at his Escondido home, authorities said this weekend.

Police officers were first to arrive at the home on South Upas Street near West Fifth Avenue at about 4 p.m. Saturday after receiving several calls about a house on fire, according to Lt. Janice Kuehn of the Escondido Police Department.

A bedroom was fully engulfed in flames when officers arrived, and a man's body was discovered in the bedroom after firefighters extinguished the flames, police added.

The unidentified man's family reported that he used an oxygen tank to treat Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and that he was a smoker, Kuehn said.

Arson investigators with the Escondido Fire Department responded along with police detectives, according to Kuehn.

The cause of the fire was still being investigated.

— City News Service