Authorities said two people and a dog on board were killed when a small plane crashed into a Simi Valley neighborhood on Saturday afternoon, causing damage to two homes.

Police blocked off the streets and issued a warning to the public to avoid the area while fire crews responded. One house in the community’s Wood Ranch neighborhood, which is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, had smoke rising from its roof.

Between the two houses, there was wreckage. Residents were inside at the time, according to the Ventura County Fire Department, but they were evacuated without any injuries being reported. According to authorities, the fire had an impact on both houses and caused structural damage.

There were roughly forty firefighters present. They started working on salvage after the fire was extinguished. One death was first reported by officials. The Simi Valley Police Department reported later on Saturday that the plane’s pilot, a passenger, and a dog had all perished.

Authorities have not yet made public any details regarding the passengers in the single-engine Van’s RV-10, a well-known kit-built home aircraft, as of Sunday. What might have caused the crash was also not mentioned.

Arman Hovakemian’s home was struck by the plane in both the dining room and backyard. When Hovakemian saw the plane overhead, circling lower and lower in the hillside neighborhood, he was working in the yard, he told the Los Angeles Times.

They fled the property after he hurried inside to retrieve his wife, Armineh, and their Pomeranian dog, Koko. The fuselage landed where he had been standing in the yard moments before, he said, with a loud bang.

“I am numb. As scores of police and firemen surrounded his house on Saturday, Hovakemian remarked, “It hasn’t really hit me yet.” “We’re glad we managed to escape.”

The plane can be heard flying close to houses at times and circling the neighborhood for almost three minutes in security footage taken by a neighbor and seen by the Times. The plane can be seen plunging straight up into the clouds and then descending again in another video.

On Saturday, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator was also present. According to NTSB spokesperson Peter Knudson, the plane’s wreckage will be transferred to a secure location for additional assessment after it has been documented.

The maintenance logs of the aircraft, weather reports, air traffic control communication recordings, witness accounts, the pilot’s background, and any surveillance footage that may have shown the aircraft will also be examined by investigators.

While attempting an emergency landing in Fullerton, southeast of Los Angeles, another Van’s RV-10 crashed into a warehouse in January, killing the pilot and his teenage daughter and injuring 19 others inside the structure. According to an NTSB preliminary report, the aircraft seemed to have had a door open while in flight.

The NTSB is not expected to release preliminary findings regarding the Simi Valley crash for several weeks. Months later, a final report is released.