Local News in Brief : North Tustin : House Fire Does $120,000 Damage
A Christmas afternoon fire destroyed the garage of a North Tustin home and scorched part of the recently remodeled house, causing $120,000 damage, county fire officials said. No one was injured.
“We were just opening Christmas presents. We had a fire in the fireplace, and I noticed very faint smoke, didn’t think anything about it,” said Foster Mobley, who owns the house on Eton Place.
But a few minutes later, Mobley said, he noticed a stronger scent of smoke and looked outside to see a group of boys pointing at his house. The garage was on fire. Neighbors began trying to hose down the blaze and called the Fire Department.
It took firefighters about 17 minutes to get the blaze under control, officials said. Besides destroying the garage, the fire damaged the attic and part of the house.
Investigators believe the blaze started from fireplace ashes that were in the garage, fire officials said.
“We were fortunate,” Mobley said, to escape injury and any worse loss of property.
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