by Christy Scannell
Editor sénior de SDUN

A fire at a North Park home on Wednesday was started by a candle left unattended on a sofa, said Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire Department.

The blaze at 2916 Copley Ave. began just after 3:00 p.m. A neighbor, Marilynn Meshekow, said she smelled smoke and saw high flames coming from the house.

“I thought it was a canyon fire,” she said. “It was shooting through electric wires.”

Meshekow ran inside to call 9-1-1. She said the engine arrived “in less than 30 seconds.”

Engine 18 from Normal Heights happened to be traveling Adams Avenue a few blocks south of Copley Avenue when firefighters saw smoke and arrived on scene, Luque said. He said the fire was knocked down in 10 minutes.

Luque said Engine 14 from North Park typically would have responded with Engine 18 but was subject to a “brownout” closure. Instead, engines from Little Italy, Hillcrest and East San Diego joined the effort.

“There was a delay” due to Engine 14 being unavailable, Luque said.

The house, which is rented by a man and his daughter, was unoccupied at the time of the fire. A dog was reportedly in the house but was missing after the fire. Luque said fire fighters were searching the canyon behind the house for the dog.

The fire caused $350,000 in structural damage and $150,000 to the home’s contents. A rented cottage and surrounding houses were unaffected by the fire, although Luque did say there was “potential” for the fire to reach the canyon but mild winds helped avoid the fire’s spread.