SANTEE (KGTV) - Firefighters found a body after putting out a small brush fire near Santee Lakes on Saturday afternoon.
A report of a fire came in at 2:12 p.m. in the 9300 block of Fanita Parkway.
The fire was about 30 square feet and was under control in less than 20 minutes. Firefighters say they discovered the body and had to change the way they fought the fire to preserve evidence.
Neighbor of 35 years, Laurel McIntyre, said she heard a noise and that's when she noticed the smoke, "I heard a muffled pop sound and I was like what's that? I look over there and down in those trees there in the middle of those trees was some black smoke going up like this... It took maybe two or three minutes for the smoke to turn into some flames and in the meantime my daughter and her friend they each had a hose and they were hosing off down here."
The fire and the death are under investigation. There is no word on if foul play was involved.
"Well to me it seems like too small of a fire for anyone to have died in it," McIntyre said.
Portions of Mast Boulevard and Pebble Beach Drive were shut down for four hours during the investigation.
