Yorba Linda plane crash leaves at least 2 dead, sets house on fire
Yorba Linda residents watched Sunday, Feb. 3, as a small plane tumbled out of the sky and crashed into a home, engulfing the structure in fire and killing two people. Some residents had observed the plane starting to come apart and catch fire midair.
“I heard the sound of an engine getting closer, then I heard a ‘pop, pop,’” said Lori Stockstill, describing the moments before the crash when she and her family heard the plane flying low over their home.
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A plane crashed in my neighborhood MInutes who #yorbalinda #planecrash #abcnews #cnnnews #news pic.twitter.com/ApabRhrWfB
— Joshua Nelson (@JoshuaRNelson) February 3, 2019
Seconds later Stockstill and others living in the area said they heard as the aircraft, a Cessna 414A, smashed into a home on the 19900 block of Crestknoll Drive, a neighborhood of single family homes just to the southeast of Yorba Linda Country Club.
Officials earlier reported the approximate crash site as being nearby on Canyon Drive.
Some residents said they thought they were hearing a car crash. Others said the impact felt like an earthquake, shaking their homes and jolting them out of pre-Super Bowl activities.
When she and her family ran outside, Stockstill said they saw fire and a huge column of smoke billowing from the crash site.
“You could just see pieces falling everywhere,” she said. “Then like it was in slow motion, I saw a bigger piece falling in front of our home.”
At around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, firefighters could be seen spraying the still-smoldering home with hoses from the ladder of a fire engine. Through the front windows of the home, the destroyed interior could be seen. Nothing was left of the back of the home — a living area, the garage and a room above it were completely gutted. The front half of an SUV parked in the driveway was singed.
Smoke hung on the air and firefighting liquid flowed in nearby gutters.
Pieces of the plane were scattered blocks away from the crash site. The front end of the aircraft was lying in the middle of a street, and a tip of a wing was learning against the roof of a home
The neighborhood was packed with residents and visitors attending Super Bowl parties. Many came out of their homes, crowding behind police tape and milling near emergency vehicles — 72 firefighters from the OCFA, Anaheim and Orange fire departments were on scene along with law enforcement personnel.
Others unaware of the disaster tried to drive in to the area but were stopped by police — vehicles lined up along Fairmont Boulevard as people got out to call friends and family to see what was going on.
Allen Kenitzer, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the Cessna took off from nearby Fullerton Airport, about 15 miles from the crash site, minutes before crash.
The plane went down at around 1:45 p.m. Kenitzer said what caused the crash was still under investigation.
Orange County Fire Authority Assistant Chief Pokey Sanchez said in addition to the two people who died in the crash, another three were injured. Two were transported to a local hospital with burns. The third was a firefighter who twisted his ankle while trying to douse the burning home.
Kenitzer said it was not clear yet how many people were inside the plane when it crashed.
Nearby Glenknoll Elementary School will be closed Monday, according to Principal David Cammarato.
On the school’s webiste, Cammarato said the campus was “designated as the command center for responding federal and local agencies assisting with the emergency.”
He also said school district employees would check the campus for debris, “including rooftops and play areas.”
People living nearby took to social media immediately after the crash, posting videos of fire and flaming pieces of debris to Twitter and Facebook.
“It was on fire. It was coming apart,” said Pat Rogers, a resident who lives about a mile away from the crash site and was among the residents who saw the aircraft in the air. “It went straight down into the middle of somebody’s roof.”
OCFA, Anaheim, Orange and OCSD on scene of a small aircraft down into a single family house. 1 structure involved, 2 people dead, 2 patients transported to local hospital. OCFA in Unified Command with @OCSheriff_ .
Press Conference TBD pic.twitter.com/F0FzibNcU3— OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) February 3, 2019
Rogers said he went to inspect the fire, and that engine parts and other debris littered the street as far as a block away from the burning home.
Plane crashed near my house in Yorba Linda.
I thought a bomb was dropped or something cuz I heard a plane engine moving in close and then my house shook on impact.This pic is near my elementary school. pic.twitter.com/ECAA9QNhVZ
— Jeremy W. (@the_bluejacket) February 3, 2019
Roshni Jogin said she was watching pre-game Super Bowl coverage with her family when they heard the explosion from the crash.
“The whole house shook,” she said. They went outside to see “thick, black petrol smoke” from the crash site.
Tony Tomminelli was barbecuing in his backyard, preparing tri-tip and chicken to feed 30 people for his family’s annual Super Bowl party.
His home on Hillside Drive overlooks the homes on Crestknoll. He had a full view of the carnage below.
As the house at the crash site exploded into flames, Tomminelli slid down an embankment to get to the lower street.
He and several other neighbors rushed to the front of the home to see if they could get anyone out. Tomminelli said he saw two people flee from the home. One was a woman, who was crying in street and asking where her father was.
Tomminelli and the other neighbors approached a window and pried it from the wall. He said smoke billowed out, and that’s when they heard someone calling from inside.
“I heard a faint, ‘help me,’” he said. He couldn’t determine if the voice was a man or a woman.
Smoke and flames blocked the group’s progress.
“I was terrified. It was horrible,” Tomminelli said.
His wife, April, was standing in their living room about an hour and a half after the crash while their children watched a movie. She said the family was still shaken up.
“It was so loud. They were really scared,” she said, pointing to the kids.
The family had fled from the home as the fire and smoke were growing. But when they got into their front yard, she said they saw debris falling, and went back inside.
She pointed to the two TV screens, one in a living area near their kitchen, and the other in a front dining room, turned off. Just one other family made it into the neighborhood for their Super Bowl party before sheriff’s deputies shut the area down to traffic.
Parts of Canyon, Crestknoll and Glendale drives around the crash site remained closed Sunday evening. Sheriff’s officials said there was no estimate for when they would be reopened.
Authorities had initially reported that two houses were burning at approximately 2 p.m., but officials later said only one building caught fire.
View from a property on the hill just to the south of the Yorba Linda plane crash. Neighbor from this house slid down a steep embankment to get to the crash site. He and others tried to break out windows at the site, heard someone calling for help. pic.twitter.com/pfJqUTCfZ9
— Josh Cain (@joshpcain) February 3, 2019
The crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
This story will be updated.