2 people, a dog dead after small plane crashes in Los Angeles-area neighborhood

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (KTLA) — Two people and a dog are dead after the small plane they were flying in crashed in a Los Angeles-area neighborhood on Saturday.

At around 1:51 p.m., about 40 firefighters responded to calls that a plane had crashed into two homes with smoke showing in the Wood Ranch community of Simi Valley, officials confirmed.

The Simi Valley Police Department issued an alert at 2:40 p.m., telling the public that a plane crash near High Meadow Street had closed the road, warning residents to avoid the area.

The Ventura County Fire Department posted to X after 4 p.m., saying that preliminary reports indicated one fatality in the aircraft. At 8 p.m., VCFD confirmed two people were killed in the crash — the pilot and a passenger — along with a dog.

"A Vans RV-10 crashed near High Meadow Street and Wood Ranch Parkway in Simi Valley, California, around 2:10 p.m. local time on Saturday, May 3," explained the FAA in a statement. "The plane departed from William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster and was heading to Camarillo Airport. The FAA and NTSB will investigate."

The stringer service KNN spoke with a homeowner who said he was trimming vegetation around his home when he spotted the plane, describing it as possibly disoriented or in distress.

"He went to tell his wife about it, and the plane plummeted and slammed into the exact location where he was trimming vegetation," KNN reported. "The man narrowly escaped death when the plane hit and his home erupted in flames."

Officials said the fire spread to two two-story, single-family homes, and that residents were inside at the time of the crash. However, they were able to evacuate, and VCFD said no other injuries were reported, but the homes sustained structural damage.

The deceased victims' identities were not immediately provided.

VCFD said the fire was knocked down as of 4 p.m.

It will likely be weeks before the NTSB releases preliminary findings on the Simi Valley crash. A final report comes months later, according to the Associated Press.