Encinitas

Arson investigators Tuesday sifted through the rubble of a duplex in the 3000 block of Via de Caballo in Encinitas looking for clues into the cause of a fast-spreading fire that did $450,000 damage, the Sheriff’s Department said.

It took firefighters from Oceanside, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach, Carlsbad and San Diego about two hours to put out the three-alarm blaze, which started shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, said a spokesman for the Encinitas Fire Department. About half of the three-story duplex home was gutted, he said.

No one was injured in the blaze, the spokesman said. Victor Eugene Nikula and his wife, Phyllis, were home when the fire started, but their barking dog alerted them, and they escaped unharmed, he said.