When Jason Carpenter received a call early this morning in his M-A Econ class, the last thing he expected was the news that his former foster home had been destroyed in a plane crash and the resulting fire.

“I was freaking out,” says Carpenter, a senior.  “I mean, half the house is gone.”

The five family members in the house at the time escaped unharmed by fire, but Carpenter’s former foster mother suffered a severe increase in blood pressure that sent her and her anxious family to the E.R.  Fortunately, she has made a speedy recovery and will soon rejoin her family at a hotel, where they will stay for the time being.

At 7:50 AM, a small private plane believed to be owned by Tesla Motors damaged three homes and five vehicles on Beech Street in East Palo Alto.  While no residents were harmed, property damage is extensive and the two passengers on board were killed along with the pilot.  The identities of the victims will not be released, although they were all allegedly Tesla employees.

The plane, flying out of the Palo Alto Airport, struck a nearby power line and careened toward the Beech Street neighborhood, falling to pieces onto the three houses.  The impact caused several fires, burning parked vehicles and a large portion of Carpenter’s former home.

“No people [residents] were injured, no pets were injured, just property damage due to fire, impact, and debris,” reports Harold Schapelhouman, Menlo Park Deputy Fire Chief.  “You know,” he says, “it’s a miracle really.”

Police are unsure of the exact path of the falling craft, but it appears to have shed its engine and a wing before crashing to the ground.  The wing, still with a piece of the power line hanging from it, was found at Carpenter’s former home.  The smoldering wreckage of the home is macabre, with debris littering the children’s play-structures in the backyard, and burned backpacks, shoes, and schoolbooks, and the airplane wing itself scattered across the back porch.

Carpenter remembers his former house.  “I was talking about buying it,” he says, “But now it’s just gone.”