LA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) — Downed trees, the smell of smoke, and a burned car and house are what one La Mesa homeowner saw on his front yard after a car crash in his yard earlier Thursday morning.
"Just before 1 in the morning, my wife and I heard a very loud boom, and so we came running downstairs, and we looked out the window, and my wife just screamed, 'It's a car accident, and it's on fire!" said Kerry Campbell, who lives on Baltimore Drive in La Mesa.
The scene was captured on his Ring doorbell camera. Campbell saw smoke everywhere, a fire extinguisher on the ground, and firefighters working to get rid of the flames. Later in the morning, the damage remained with burned-up trash bins and a mangled speed limit sign.
"We went into the backyard but then we could see the flames higher than the house and we thought that the house might catch fire, so we quickly went out the side yard and down the street, some of my neighbors took my kids in," said Campbell.
He grabbed two fire extinguishers from his garage and rushed out to save one of the passengers in the car.
During our interview, ABC 10 News asked: "Do you think there's a way to be prepared for something like this?"
Campbell responded with an honest answer: "At one in the morning, car on fire in your lawn. I don't think there's any way to be prepared."
While part of the owner's home was damaged, Campbell said the insurance will help cover the costs.
Investigators with the La Mesa Police Department are still looking into the official cause of the crash.
