At least two people have died and others have been severely injured after a plane crashed into homes in a major Californian city.

Thick black smoke billowed across the densely populated town of Santee in San Diego after a Cessna aeroplane stuck the neighbourhood on Tuesday (local time) and burst into flames.

Footage showed remnants of the small plane scattered along the busy street, with fires in multiple homes.

Several homes have been destroyed and several casualties were reported.

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Images of emergency services rushing to contain the blaze show at least two houses destroyed while a third appears significantly damaged.

Up to 10 homes were damaged in Santee, a largely residential suburb of 50,000 people.

Several vehicles including a UPS delivery truck also went up in flames, witnesses said.

Santee Deputy Fire Chief Justin Matsushita confirmed there were “multiple confirmed fatalities”.

The driver of the delivery truck is reported as one of the two confirmed fatalities.

“We do know there has been at least two confirmed, but we do not know if there are more,” Mr Matsushita said.

“Not to be graphic, but it’s a pretty brutal scene for our guys and we’re trying to comb through it.”

How many people were on board the Cessna plane is unknown.

Mr Matsushita said the incident was “unsurvivable”.

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The flight was en route from Yuma, Arizona, to the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego.

Reports suggest the plane attempted to land at a small country-owned airport in El Cajon, San Diego, before crashing.

The crash occurred a few blocks from a local high school campus, Santana High School.

The school stated on Twitter all its students were “secure”.

Local Andrew Pelloth, 30, was working from home when he heard a whirring and then a huge boom.

“My initial thought was that it was a meteorite coming down,” he said.

“I could hear it falling and then some kind of explosion.”

Santee residents were filmed assisting a retired couple from one of the burning homes after they called for help through an open window.

Several streets were closed because of the crash, which required six fire trucks and other emergency services at the scene.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

-with AAP