There is tragic news out of San Diego Thursday as a small plane crashed into a military housing neighborhood, setting at least 15 houses on fire and causing as many as 10 deaths.

It happened in the middle of the night:

The Cessna 550 plane crashed in San Diego's Murphy Canyon neighborhood at around 3.47am during a period of dense fog, leaving no survivors.

San Diego police and fire officials said the plane could hold eight to 10 people but they do not yet know how many were on board.

Assistant San Diego Fire Chief Dan Eddy said no one was injured on the ground. 

A huge fireball erupted after the crash, setting multiple homes and cars ablaze. Officials say at least 15 properties have been affected.

The tweet continues:

The crash occurred during dense fog conditions early Thursday morning, with officials reporting "jet fuel all over the place" and "direct hits to multiple homes."

Emergency crews are conducting door-to-door searches to ensure all residents have been evacuated from the affected area, though injury reports have not yet been confirmed. The FAA stated the number of people aboard the aircraft, which can carry six to eight passengers, remains unknown.

There have been a number of high-profile airplane crashes in recent months:

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The blast shook the entire neighborhood:

Neighbors told NBC 7 they heard a 'loud boom', their walls 'shook' and then they saw the blaze. Another local described the eruption as 'not like an explosion' but more similar to 'fireworks'.

All residents have been evacuated from the neighborhood due to the 'HAZMAT situation'. The evacuations have spanned multiple streets.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. DailyMail.com has approached San Diego police for more information. 

Footage from the ground shows an apocalyptic scene with destroyed vehicles and debris.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl described what he saw at a press conference.

“I can't quite put words to describe what this scene looks like, but with the jet fuel going down the street and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see for the police officers and firefighters to run in there, start trying to evacuate people out of the way, and doing anything and everything they could to try to save somebody's life is really heroic."

What caused this tragedy is still a mystery.