Firefighters Control Grass Blazes in Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo

Two small fires in dry grass and brush broke out Thursday, one in Laguna Hills and another in Mission Viejo, fire officials said.

Fireworks are suspected as a possible cause of one of the blazes, and investigators have determined that fireworks caused two separate fires Wednesday.

In Laguna Hills, seven acres of brush were blackened at Moulton Parkway and Glenwood, south of Leisure World, Orange County Fire Department dispatcher Shawn McDonald said. The blaze was reported a few minutes after 6 p.m. Thursday and was contained an hour later, he said. No homes were threatened. The cause is under investigation.

In Mission Viejo, a small grass fire charred two acres Thursday in the Trabuco Creek bed, fire officials said.

The fire broke out around 1:20 p.m. at Crown Valley Parkway and Jardines. Orange County firefighters controlled it within two hours.

Orange County Fire Department Capt. Patrick McIntosh said that fireworks may have started the blaze but that the cause is still under investigation.

However, McIntosh said, fire investigators have blamed illegal use of fireworks for two Wednesday fires.

A 9-year-old boy playing with a sparkler touched off a 2-acre brush fire in Silverado Canyon on Wednesday afternoon, he said.

In addition, fire investigators determined that a bottle rocket sparked a roof fire in Sunset Beach on Wednesday. The small blaze, at 8th Street and Pacific Coast Highway, caused $5,000 damage.

Orange Fire Department officials still were investigating the cause of Wednesday’s brush fire in Orange Park Acres.

“We suspect fireworks,” fire investigator Richard Alarcon said Thursday. “Neighbors said they heard firecrackers going off just before the fire, but nobody saw anybody.”