Updated at 12:15 p.m. Dec. 29, 2016
A predawn fire possibly sparked by a holiday light string destroyed an Escondido family’s mobile home Thursday, killing a preschooler and sending eight of her relatives to hospitals, including a critically injured 10-year-old boy.
The blaze in the 500 block of West 15th Avenue was reported shortly after 12:30 a.m., according to the Escondido Fire Department. It took crews about 35 minutes to subdue the flames, EFD Battalion Chief Art Holcomb said.
A 5-year-old girl died in the gutted home. Her name was not immediately available.
Medics took the rest of the injured residents, all members of the same extended family, to trauma centers, mostly for treatment of smoke inhalation, Holcomb said.
The blaze, which caused minor damage to several adjacent mobile homes, appeared to have started near a Christmas tree and likely was electrical in origin, officials told news crews.
— City News Service
