Yorba Linda : Fire Set in Old Ranch Building, Officials Say

A fire was deliberately set early Monday in a 1939 building at the Bryant Ranch in Yorba Linda, the county Fire Department reported.

About one-fourth of the stucco building with the red tile roof was destroyed in the 2:30 a.m. fire, which caused approximately $80,000 in damage, Fire Department spokeswoman Patti Range said.

The fire was set in different parts of the building, and fire investigators are seeking “anyone who saw anything,” Range said.

Six brush engines designed to travel in areas where there are no roads were used to put out the flames.

The building, in the 26000 block of East La Palma Avenue, is not listed on local inventories or in the National Register of Historic Places, but it had some historic significance, officials said.

The two-story house, built by Susanna Bixby Bryant, was part of the Rancho Santiago Botanic Gardens until 1952, when the surrounding arboretum was moved to Claremont, according to the staff of the Orange County Historical Commission.

Bryant, a member of one of Orange County’s oldest families, had the two-story house built as part of the arboretum and as a community center for the ranch hands, said Brian Johnson, land development director with C-W Associates, the company now developing the land.

C-W Associates had planned to dedicate the building on a hill--with “a very, very magnificent view” of the Santa Ana Canyon--to the city for recreation programs, said Phil Paxton, Yorba Linda community development director.

Johnson said his company needs to assess whether the building can still be saved. Since 1981, C-W Associates has built about 1,000 of about 3,500 homes planned for the former ranch, he said.