JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune Firefighters try to contain a blaze that destroyed this house on Vista del Monte Drive in an unincorporated area of El Cajon and threatened to go into surrounding brush.

EL CAJON – A house perched atop a hillside in unincorporated El Cajon was destroyed in a three-alarm fire Tuesday afternoon, injuring two residents and spreading to nearby brush on the surrounding slope.

The fire broke out about 3:10 p.m. on Vista del Monte Drive near Vista del Monte Way in the upscale Mount Merritt neighborhood. It started at one end of the two-story home and then spread to the brush, said Leonard Villarreal, a spokesman with the San Miguel Fire Protection District.

Within minutes, firefighters asked for more engines and personnel to fight the blaze. About 60 firefighters and 15 fire engines were called in, but mostly as a precaution in case the blaze got out of control.

“There were a couple of spot brush fires,” he said. “The brush fires were quickly contained and the main fire was confined to the house itself. But because of the low humidity and the terrain here, we requested a third alarm.”

The fire sent a large plume of black smoke that could be seen from a distance. Flames were still stubbornly burning in the gutted structure an hour after the fire started.

Three of the five residents – two men and a woman – were home at the time of the fire, Villarreal said. The woman suffered minor smoke inhalation and one of the men suffered burns on his right hand. Both were treated and were not taken to a hospital.

Two firefighting helicopters, one from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and the other from the sheriff's department, circled overhead to give the firefighters an aerial view from above the steep hillside neighborhood. They did not make water drops.

There was concern that a portion of the rear of the house, where a deck extends out over the hillside, might collapse, and firefighters were kept out of that part of the structure, Villarreal said.

Traffic was heavy in the area as residents driving by stopped to watch the fire, as did drivers on Interstate 8 near state Route 125 and on Chase Avenue near Anza Street.

Drivers of about 50 cars that had stopped on Chase Avenue because of the fire had to be told to keep moving, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The cause of the fire has not been determined and a damage estimate was not yet known, but the house is considered a total loss, officials said.

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