LA MESA, Calif.—A fire inside a La Mesa apartment building Dec. 25 left a dog dead, displaced six people and damaged three other units.
The blaze was reported around 1:40 p.m. on San Juan Street, the San Miguel Fire-Rescue department told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
A child told firefighters that the blaze started in the Christmas tree, Battalion Chief Roddy Blunt told the newspaper.
The fire started on the first floor and then spread to the apartment above it through an open window, Blunt told the paper.
The apartment where the fire started was destroyed. The other units were rendered uninhabitable , the paper reported.
Some 40 firefighters from Heartland Fire Department with an assist from San Diego Fire-Rescue knocked down the flames in about 40 minutes, the paper reported.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.