Apparently Sparked by Unattended Candle : Fire Destroys Ex-Laguna Beach Mayor’s Home

Fire destroyed the two-story Laguna Beach home of former Mayor Sally Bellerue Tuesday night but the occupants escaped without injury.

The blaze scorched houses on each side of the Bellerue home on El Bosque, but Laguna Beach and Orange County firefighters prevented the flames from spreading.

Bobby Bellerue, 17, said the blaze was his fault. “I had a candle burning in my room,” he said. “I was in there and I left. I didn’t think about it,” Several minutes later he heard a crash, he said, “and I looked in and my room was ablaze.”

Bobby Bellerue said he ran and told his father, attorney Vic Bellerue, “and we got out as quick as possible.” Sally Bellerue was out of town at the time, and by late Tuesday evening, still had not been told of the fire that destroyed the family home of nine years.

Bobby Bellerue said his father sprayed the outside of the house with a garden hose but wasn’t able to slow the fire, which spread quickly “into the TV room, into a third of the house,” he said.

Thirty-five Laguna Beach firefighters and two crews from Orange County battled the blaze for an hour before they brought it under control about 9:30 p.m. Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Ray Lardie estimated the loss at about $300,000. He said one firefighter suffered a burned hand.

The fire lit up the night sky in Laguna Beach, turning the house “into just one big, large orange ball,” Lardie said.