At least 8 pets killed in San Bernardino brush fire, residents say

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- A destructive hillside fire in San Bernardino not only left residents without homes, but many residents also lost their beloved pets.

The Edgehill Fire was reported around 2:30 p.m. Monday in the area of the 3300 block of Beverly Drive in the Little Mountain community.

The 54-acre fire destroyed five homes and damaged three others, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said Tuesday. An outbuilding was also destroyed.

According to neighbors who spoke with ABC7 on Tuesday, at least eight pets in the area were killed. Fire officials are still working to determine an exact total.

Erika Hernandez said she and her family lost their three dogs in the fire.

"I don't care about the things. Truly, I'm just heartbroken about our dogs," she said. "They were our family members."

Hernandez said she wasn't allowed to go back to get the family dogs as flames and smoke consumed their home.

A GoFundMe page was started to help the Hernandez family - parents Erika and Justin and their two sons, ages 17 and 9.

In video obtained by Eyewitness News, one neighbor was seen rushing to save his pet turkey.

"I'm really depressed about my neighbors that lost their pets," said Sal Diaz, who lives across the street from the man in the video. "That's my neighbor. He had a turkey ... he's the one who lost the five dogs."

The fire was initially estimated at 5 acres but spread rapidly in dry brush and triple-digit temperatures and within hours grew to 54 acres. A few hours later, forward progress of the blaze was stopped. Crews worked through the night to prevent any flare-ups.

All evacuations were lifted before noon Tuesday and full containment of the blaze was reported a few hours later.

At least half a dozen homes were consumed by flames as a wildfire tore through a neighborhood of San Bernardino.

Footage from AIR7 showed several homes consumed by flames. At one point, another dozen or more appeared to be within close vicinity of the blaze. Teams began surveying the damage Tuesday morning.

At one point, San Bernardino police said a person had been detained in connection with the investigation into the fire. But the person was later released without charges. It wasn't clear why they were detained.

Meanwhile, one firefighter was injured and taken to the hospital with minor injuries.