San Diego

An unattended 3-year-old boy playing in a bedroom with a disposable lighter started a fire Monday that caused $85,000 damage to a house in the 4100 block of Pepper Drive in East San Diego, Fire Capt. Al Macdonald said.

A woman and a man who saw the 2 p.m. fire kicked in the back door of the house and tried to put out the blaze with a garden hose but were driven back by the heat, Macdonald said. The woman suffered a cut hand and smoke inhalation and was taken to Villa View Community Hospital, where she was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The boy lives in the house with another child and an adult, none of whom were injured, Macdonald said.