ESCONDIDO, Calif. | A fire intentionally set Thursday to destroy an explosives-filled house in a suburban San Diego neighborhood rapidly consumed the structure without major problems as fire crews and curious onlookers watched.
Authorities said the home was so packed with homemade explosives that they had no choice but to burn it to the ground.
Remotely controlled explosive devices ignited the home in Escondido and it quickly became engulfed in flames as thick smoke rose high into the sky, going just as authorities had planned to avoid spreading toxic fumes through the community.
The fire began with puffs of smoke that rapidly grew larger and shot through the roof before spectacular orange flames overtook the house. Popping noises heard during the fire were likely hand grenades and ammunition, officials said.
At the height of the fire, Shirley Abernethy, 82, stood on a porch about 200 yards away.
“Oh my gosh! Look at those flames. They are as high as those trees. That’s scary,” Mrs. Abernathy said.
The flames quickly ate away at the attached garage and then large chunks of the house. Within minutes the flaming framework was exposed and nearby shrubs were burning. A remote controlled fire sprinkler was activated.
Nearly all of the home was destroyed in about 30 minutes after a delay of nearly an hour as fire officials waited for an atmospheric condition known as an inversion layer to clear. The condition could have held the toxic smoke close to the ground.
“This has gone according to plan,” said Jan Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. “They wanted to wait for that perfect moment.”
Robert J. Kard, director of air pollution control for the county, said workers monitored for the blaze for dangerous pollutants and received no alarming reports.
The plume drifted toward the southeast as planned, over partially closed Interstate 15 and toward sparsely populated fields.
Meteorologists had been consulted to determine the most favorable conditions for the fire.
“It is a good day for a fire,” said Miss Caldwell, who described the plume as “very evil looking.”
The fire would likely smolder for much of the day, she said.
The house was rented by an out-of-work software consultant who authorities say assembled an astonishing quantity of bomb-making materials that included the kind of chemicals used by suicide bombers.
The materials included Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, which was used in the 2001 airliner shoe-bombing attempt as well as airplane cargo bombs discovered last month by authorities.
Investigators say they are still trying to understand what motivated the renter, George Jakubec, to stockpile the material. Mr. Jakubec, 54, has pleaded not guilty to charges of making destructive devices and robbing three banks.
Nearly every room was packed with piles of explosive material and items related to making homemade bombs, prosecutors said.
In the backyard, bomb technicians found six mason jars with highly unstable Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMDT, which can explode if stepped on. A coffee table was found cluttered with documents and strewn with detonators, prosecutors said.
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