Community Corner

House Fire Sends Residents Scrambling To Escape Injury

No people were injured in a fire on Pepper Tree Lane in Colton that badly damaged a home and killed the resident's pet birds.

An intense fire sent residents fleeing and badly damaged a Colton home this morning.

However, two of the families parakeets could not be saved, firefighters said.

Fire crews from Colton and Loma Linda fire departments responded to the blaze at 8:22 a.m. in the 1900 block of Pepper Tree Lane, according to Colton Fire Capt. Tom DeBellis. The Colton neighborhood is near the Loma Linda city limits.

People were inside of the home, but were able to quickly flee and escape injury, DeBellis said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"There's nothing you can do. This is just what happens in life," said the home's owner, Arturo Urbina. He was already at work when he received the call sometime after 8 a.m. that his house was on fire. "I don't know what happened or where it started. I called my wife to ask her if she had left the stove on and she said definitely not."

Firefighters knocked down the flames in about 15 minutes. The fire started in the home's front room and got into the attic, DeBellis said. The family was displaced but was getting help from their insurer to find temporary housing, fire officials said.


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