In the dark stillness of night, a quiet, tree-lined street in a San Diego neighborhood was plunged into tragedy when a plane clipped a main power line and crashed onto the street — turning cars into fireballs and sending hundreds of residents fleeing in a haze of smoke and confusion.

A small plane crashed in dense fog in a Murphy Canyon neighborhood early Thursday morning, killing at least two people on the plane and burning several cars and homes in a neighborhood of military families.

A small private plane has crashed in a San Diego neighborhood, sparking fires in at least 15 homes, authorities said.