San Bernardino brush fire that destroyed homes was 'human-caused,' officials say

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- A fast-moving brush fire that destroyed homes in San Bernardino is now fully contained, and officials have determined that it was not started by natural causes.

The Edgehill Fire was reported Monday afternoon 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, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department. An outbuilding was also destroyed.

All evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday, and families who lost everything returned to the area to sift through the remains and ashes.

"There's really nothing here, but it's worth a shot to look and see if we can find something," said Erika Hernandez, whose family was among those that lost their home.

The family is now grieving the loss of their home, as well as their three beloved dogs. 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.

"I'm just heartbroken about our dogs," said a woman who lost her three dogs. "They were our family members."

Hernandez was overcome with tears after discovering mementos in the ashes: a locket and the couple's wedding announcement.

"We had some great memories in this house and we still had a lot of plans to fix it up...," she said.

Firefighters battled the heat, wind and terrain to save as many homes as possible. After the flames were put out, arson investigators were able to make a determination about the wind-driven fire.

"They have been able to rule out natural causes. So at this point, this is going to be a human-caused fire. What type of human cause is still part of the investigation," said Eric Sherwin, with the county fire department.

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

One of the homes that survived the fire belongs to Sal Diaz. He credits both brush clearance around his property and firefighters for saving it.

But even homes that had defensible space, like the Hernandez's, were not safe from the fast-moving fire.

"This fire hit this community so fast. And we know we have very narrow roads, we have one-way roads. The fact that we had no civilian injuries is truly a miracle," Sherwin said.