Resident of Dillon House Fire Arrested, Charged with Reckless Burning

Updated at 9:07 p.m. April 26, 2013

Jackson Pavlicek of La Mesa was in custody Friday after police and fire investigators discovered a house fire on Dillon Drive was started by a cigarette.

LMPD Arson Investigators Sgt. Michael Pierce and Officer Michael Butcher, along with fire personnel, discovered that a resident had extinguished a cigarette in the back yard, which caused the dry brush to catch fire, authorities said.

The fire quickly spread to the house and caused burn damage to another house, trees and fences. The residents were able to escape the house and were contacted by the LMPD a short distance away, police said.

Pavlicek was booked into San Diego County Jail at 8:42 p.m. Friday on a charge of reckless burning of property.

He is being held on $50,000 bail, and has an arraignment scheduled for Wednesday, May 1.

Original story:

Heartland and other crews battled a two-alarm house fire Friday at 9147 Dillon Drive that closed Bancroft Drive for more than an hour between Lemon Avenue and Grossmont Boulevard.

Bancroft, a frontage road to state Route 125 in east La Mesa, was reopened by 4:45 p.m., neighbors said.

Fire spokesman Sonny Saghera said no injuries were reported in the one-story blaze, which threatened to spread to homes to the south on Shirley Drive amid gusty winds. 

Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.

Real estate records for that address said the 2,000-square-foot house was built in 1937 and had three bedrooms.

Chris Adams, a Dillon Drive neighbor, said the house destroyed in the blaze was in foreclosure, with a relative of the owner occupying the home on the south side of the street. 

It took firefighters from Heartland, Lakeside and San Diego about an hour to subdue the blaze, which also torched some surrounding foliage, said Saghera of Heartland Fire & Rescue.   

Flames began spreading through the house about 3 p.m., he said.   

Stoked by westerly winds, the blaze ignited nearby trees and bushes, including some in neighboring yards, and caused minor damage to the roof of a nearby residence, Saghera said.   

The American Red Cross was called in to help the three adult residents of the destroyed home and arranged for emergency lodging. Cause of the fire was under investigation.

—City News Service contributed to this report.