The Region - News from Feb. 23, 1987

A fire that gutted a Newport Beach metal finishing firm led to the evacuation of 350 residents from surrounding neighborhoods. A Fire Department spokesman said the evacuation was ordered after release of a cloud of fumes, including a small amount of cyanide, but that no one was injured and that tests showed the fumes were not concentrated enough to have proved really dangerous. The fire at the Hixson Metal Finishing plant was controlled after about two hours.