Suspect Arrested in Apartment Fire : Damage Put at $650,000 in Santa Ana

A 20-year-old Santa Ana man was arrested on suspicion of arson Wednesday while 50 firefighters battled a blaze that raced across the top of the Mango Tree apartment complex on East Santa Clara Avenue in Santa Ana, authorities said.

The fast-moving fire, which erupted about 11:15 Tuesday night, was whipped by 35-m.p.h. winds. It forced eight families to flee, charred five cars, injured four firefighters and caused $650,000 in damage, said James A. Montgomery, Santa Ana deputy fire chief.

Police arrested Craig Manuel Palmer on suspicion of arson and booked him into Orange County Jail, Montgomery said at a news conference at the site of the fire.

Montgomery, citing the “sensitive nature of the investigation,” discussed few of the circumstances surrounding Palmer’s arrest or other details about the suspect.

He said Palmer had been arrested early Wednesday while the fire was still raging because of information provided by a participant in the Neighborhood Watch anti-crime program.

Palmer is being investigated in connection with other recent fires in the north Santa Ana neighborhood of deluxe apartments and condominiums, Montgomery said.

At least two of those fires occurred in the North Woodlyn condominium complex, which adjoins Mango Tree. Palmer and his mother have lived in North Woodlyn for about six months, neighbors said.

Palmer’s mother would not talk about her son or his arrest.

“He’s an adult,” she said. “I’m very upset. . . . You have no idea how bad I feel.”

Neighbors said Palmer is “quiet” and had worked as a service station attendant.

The fire began in a carport of the Mango Tree complex, which has 52 apartments. Montgomery would not say how the fire was set, but it charred five cars in the carport and caused lesser damage to two cars parked nearby.

Pam Mercado, whose two-story apartment abuts the carport, said she was awakened about 11:15 p.m. by a “popping noise” in the carport.

Mercado, a 39-year-old office manager, was lying on the couch in her downstairs living room when she “looked out at the patio, and I saw flames coming over the (6-foot) fence. It scared the hell out of me!”

Mercado ran up the stairs to wake up her 15-year-old son, Brandon. Mercado said they looked up and saw flames licking through the ceiling from the shakewood roof. They fled the apartment dressed only in their pajamas, stopping just long enough to pick up the cage of their albino parrot Q-Tip.

They ran to the nearby apartment of Mango Tree manager Chuck Driesler, who called the Santa Ana Fire Department. They began pounding on the doors of other tenants to warn them about the fire.

About 50 firefighters, or about 70% of the Santa Ana firefighters then on duty, brought the fire under control at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, Montgomery said. The shake roofs of two of the buildings were burned off by the flames, and eight apartments received heavy smoke and water damage, he said.

The fire caused an estimated $500,000 in damage to the buildings and an additional $150,000 in damage to the contents and cars, Montgomery said.

Four firefighters were treated and released from a hospital for minor injuries, he said.

Montgomery declined to identify the Neighborhood Watch participant whose information led to the arrest of Palmer. But Larry Huber, a member of the program who lives near Palmer in North Woodlyn, said he was the informant.

Huber, a 32-year-old landscaper, would not divulge what he had told authorities.

“I was asked not to say anything by the Santa Ana police,” Huber said.