2 dead, 2 burned when plane parts hit California house

Firefighters respond to the scene of a plane crash at a home in Yorba Linda, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

YORBA LINDA, Calif. -- Two people died and two others injured after a small plane apparently came apart, dropping parts that scattered across a suburban neighbourhood and ignited a house fire before landing in a backyard, witnesses and authorities said Sunday.

The crash shook the Yorba Linda neighbourhood about 2 p.m. after the twin-engine Cessna 414A took off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport about a dozen miles west of the blaze, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.

The pilot was the only person in the twin-engine plane, though authorities have not determined who among the dead and injured were on board or on the ground.

A two-story house burst into flames after being struck by a plane part, sending panicked neighbours into the streets.

"It was a boom. It sounded like something exploded. It shook our house," said John Wolbart, who lives a block away.

He said he ran to the burning house and saw a woman come out with singed hair.

The wounded were taken to a hospital with burn injuries, said Pokey Sanchez, an assistant chief with the Orange County Fire Authority. A firefighter was also treated for a minor injury.

Clint Langford, who lives about a half-mile away, said he was in his living room when he heard a low rumbling.

"It's the eerie, low rumbling sound that keeps getting lower and louder. It was scary," he said. "And then all of a sudden boom. It shook the house."

He looked out his front door and could see plane parts falling out the sky in the distance.

Pat Rogers, who lives about a mile from the crash site, told the Orange County Register he saw the plane on fire and coming apart.

Video posted on Twitter showed panicked residents running to the house as it became engulfed in flames and dark smoke. One man doused a burning wing that landed on the street with a garden hose.

Aerial footage taken from news helicopters show plane parts, including side panels and a propeller, scattered on rooftops and driveways near the burned house. The main body of the twin-engine plane was found in the backyard of another home not far from the burned house. The fire spread to a SUV that was parked in the driveway.

Rain from a winter storm helped firefighters extinguish the house fire. They planned to search the burned house in case there were additional victims, Sanchez said.

The National Transportation and Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.

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Associated Press writers Daisy Nguyen in San Francisco, Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu and freelance photographer Alex Gallardo in Yorba Linda contributed to this report.