Death toll in fatal San Leandro house fire rises to three
Three people died and multiple people were injured in a fire at a home in San Leandro early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The Alameda County Fire Department said the fire broke out shortly before 5:30 a.m. on the 2000 block of Altamont Road in the Hillcrest Knolls neighborhood of unincorporated San Leandro just north of Interstate Highway 580.
Fire Department spokesperson Cheryl Hurd said there were nine people in the home at the time of the fire, and six of them were taken to a hospital. Two of those fire victims died at the hospital, and a third remains in critical condition. There was no official word on the condition of the other two victims.
Authorities confirmed later Thursday evening that a third victim was found inside the burned structure. While fire officials did not provide additional details regarding the third victim, they had previously said that a child remained unaccounted for at the fire.
The department originally reported Thursday morning that a child had died in the fire, and later retracted the information and said the child was missing. Hurd said that body found inside the burned home was that of a dog and not of the child.
During a press availability earlier Thursday morning, Division Chief Randall West said it was unclear how many people were transported to the hospital and that a child was possibly unaccounted for.
"The information is very conflicting," said West. "We are getting information from neighbors, we're getting information from the patients, uh, the victims that are at the hospital, so until we can get a solid answer for those who occupied the house right now, then we can give a better update on how many people are unaccounted for."
Fire Chief Willie McDonald said the fire severely injured the occupants and was difficult to put out. Once firefighters were able to enter, it was also hard to determine immediately who else might have been in the house.
"A lot of damage to the house that are making it for us to be very difficult to determine the actual number of folks that were in the house and who's been accounted for," said McDonald. "We've got folks in the house continuing to search and we're trying to determine if there's a child unaccounted for or where that child might be."
McDonald said his department was working with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office because of the word of a possible death in the fire.
Fire officials said the county coroner and a cadaver dog were at the scene as the investigation continued.
Several neighbors who spoke with CBS News Bay Area said they heard two loud booms around the same time the fire reportedly started.
"Just heard the bangs in the middle of the night," said Lamin Mansaray, who lives in the area. "The first one was louder than the second one and it just happened one after the other."
Fire officials said they didn't know if the fire caused the explosions or the explosions ignited the fire.
As of early Thursday evening, the road remains blocked off around this house. It was unclear how long police and fire crews would remain at the scene, but the mobile crime lab was still present as were several fire trucks.
There was no immediate word on what caused the fire and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
