Homeowners Return From Breakfast Out to Find House Gutted by Fire

A Santee man said he was away from the house doing “Saturday stuff with my wife” when his Lake Canyon Road home of decades was destroyed by fire.

The man, who neighbors called Bob but who declined to give his last name, said he was coming home after eating breakfast out when he saw the street blocked by sheriff’s deputies—and learned his house had been gutted.

Bob said he and his wife lived alone in the house with two dogs, who survived the blaze in the 9400 block of Lake Canyon Road at least a half-block east of Carlton Hills Boulevard.

A next-door neighbor said she became aware of the fire when her daughter came to visit and saw the smoke.

The daughter let the dogs out, the neighbor said.

She was keeping the dogs for the owners, the neighbor told Patch.

Another neighbor said the family, which has lived in the house at the foot of a hillside, lost a cat and cockatoo in the flames.

10News.com reported that firefighters arrived after 9:30 a.m. Saturday to find the home fully involved but had the blaze out within 20 minutes.

The middle-age owner said “nobody knows” what caused the fire. The Santee Fire Department was reported to be investigating. There was no damage to nearby homes.