A small plane crashed into a home in Monterey County Tuesday, starting a fire in the house that spread to nearby wildland.
Dorothy Priolo, a spokeswoman with the Monterey County Regional Fire District, said firefighters were dispatched to the home in Monterra Ranch, near Highway 68, after receiving reports of a plane crash.
The twin-engine Cessna 421 crashed into a residential area after departing from the Monterey Regional Airport in Monterey, Calif., at 10:40 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a preliminary report.
"When we arrived on scene, we discovered the home was about 60% involved with fire, and some of the debris from the crash had spread to other parts of the property starting some spot fires in the brush," said Priolo.
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Those brush fires were quickly put out. Parts of the plane were found hundreds of yards leading up to the crash site and the house destroyed by the plane is owned by a Bay Area family.
They did not want to speak to NBC Bay Area, but did say no one was home at the time of the accident. Fire crews said no one on the ground was hurt either.
The FAA said it did not yet have information about the number of people on board but the pilot's voice on the radio was a woman, who said she was flying to Salinas.
California
Her status has not yet been confirmed as a fatality according to a Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Chris Bourquin, the acting chief of police of Del Rey Oaks, which also covers the airport, described the crash as “not survivable,” the Monterey Herald reported.
Investigators with the FAA were on scene along with crews from Cal Fire and the Monterey and Seaside fire departments, she said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
Monterra Ranch is a gated community with luxury homes in the hills about 2 miles southeast of the Monterey Regional Airport.
