O.C. Fires Tied to Fireworks; 40 Homeless

A series of fires apparently touched off by the deadly combination of illegal fireworks and wood-shingle roofs swept through Orange County on Wednesday, leaving 40 people homeless in an Anaheim apartment complex while destroying one residence and damaging a second in separate blazes in Orange.

In all three cases, officials said the fires were apparently triggered by youngsters setting off fireworks in post-Independence Day revelry. And in each case, the structures that caught fire had shake or shingle roofs that were already hot from blistering temperatures that had settled across the Southland during the holiday weekend.

No injuries were reported in any of the fires, but firefighters renewed their call for people to refrain from using illegal fireworks.

Two brush fires, one off Carbon Canyon Road near Brea and the other in southern Orange County near Coto de Caza, were also reported Wednesday. But officials said they have no evidence that these were caused by fireworks.

In the most serious case, fire swept through the two-story De Anza Plaza apartment complex in Anaheim shortly after 11 a.m., gutting 12 units and collapsing part of the roof before firefighters brought the blaze under control.

Barbara Burke, an Anaheim city spokeswoman, said the blaze apparently started after two boys and a girl, all under age 12, shot off a bottle rocket that fell to the roof. The shake roof, already hot from the sun, erupted into flames that eventually caused an estimated $280,000 in damage.

The Orange County Red Cross said 11 families, about 40 people in all, were forced out of their homes and are being put up in motels. Another family was relocated to a vacant apartment in the same complex.

The children who started the fire were questioned by fire investigators and will be questioned again later this week, Burke said. She said that the children all live in the neighborhood and that the fireworks were apparently bought in Mexico.

“If charges are filed, they would be filed against the children, but I’m not sure that will happen,” she said. “I think a stern talking-to will take care of it.”

David Weingartner, manager of the apartments, said he saw the children lighting the fireworks in front of the building and told them to stop. Just 10 minutes later, he said, he was advised that part of the roof was on fire.

“I saw the fire and it was scorching,” Weingartner said. “I looked up on the roof, and I said, ‘I won’t be able to stop this.’ I thought that by the time I got to calling the Fire Department, the roof of the building might have caved in.

“It just came to me, ‘Get the people out, and then call the Fire Department.’ It was instinct.”

Weingartner said he then ran door to door, pounding and yelling to tell the tenants to leave the building for their own safety.

Sylvia Sandobal, 23, was inside her apartment when children banged on her door to alert her.

“I saw the fire when it barely started,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do, and then the whole thing started (moving) really fast.”

A short time after the Anaheim fire broke out, two blazes were reported at homes in Orange, again apparently caused by fireworks.

The worst, at a single-story home in the 1400 block of Cabrillo Street in Orange Park Acres, destroyed the home of Tom and Martha Holler, who had left earlier in the day for a vacation of golfing in Atlanta. Their two sons were not home.

According to Fire Capt. Ray Montoya, an Orange battalion chief, a suspected bottle rocket landed on the roof of the Holler home about noon and the roof immediately caught fire.

“It spread very quickly because the roof was so hot,” Montoya said. “Especially this time of year, when the roofs are preheated to well over 110 degrees just because of exposure during hot days, fires can get out of control. It doesn’t take much to get them to the point where they burn.”

Montoya said the city has a limited ban on new buildings with roofs made out of wood, unless the roofs are pressure-treated with fire retardant. However, this new ordinance applies only in areas within 500 feet of open space where brush is growing.

Montoya said the Hollers recently had roof work done and had it treated with some form of fire retardant, although it was apparently not pressure-treated.

By the time firefighters arrived, a large plume of smoke had billowed over the neighborhood. More fire units were called to help control the blaze, Montoya said.

By the time it was brought under control, the roof had collapsed, and the home was declared a total loss.

Damage for the home and property was estimated at $300,000.

Montoya said neighbors heard fireworks popping and crackling minutes before the fire started. He said investigators are looking for youths who were apparently playing with fireworks in the area.

About the same time in another part of Orange, another shake roof caught fire on South Shattuck Place, again the result of illegal fireworks. But firefighters put that fire out before it spread. Damage was estimated at $4,000.

“People think the worst is over after July 4, but the day after the holiday there are always problems,” Montoya said. “It’s always a surprise the day after.”

The Carbon Canyon brush fire burned just over an acre near Carbon Canyon Regional Park in the early afternoon. A Brea fire spokesman said it took just minutes to bring it under control.

The Coto de Caza blaze, which broke out in brush just south of Via Colinas on the south side of the development at about 2 p.m., was a bit larger, but it too was brought under control quickly before it could spread to the homes in the area, county fire officials said.

ORANGE COUNTY FIRES

Carbon Canyon Road

A small brush fire broke out about 2 p.m. off Carbon Canyon Road next to Carbon Canyon Regional Park. The cause of the fire is unknown and it was brought under control by Brea fire units within minutes.

Anaheim

530 N. Anna Drive

Forty people were left homeless when the two-story De Anza Plaza apartment complex caught fire when three children playing with illegal fireworks shot a bottle rocket on the roof, igniting a wood-shingle fire. Damages were estimated at $280,000 and 11 families were forced out of their homes.

Orange

175 S. Shattuck Place

A second Orange home sustained minor damages to its shake roof because of a fire started when a suspected illegal bottle rocket landed on its roof about noon. Firefighters said the roof sustained $4,000 in damages.

Orange

1456 Cabrillo St.

A single-story home valued at $300,000 was destroyed when suspected illegal fireworks sparked a fire on a shake roof. The fire started about noon. There were no injuries, and the homeowners were out of town.

Coto de Caza

A small brush fire in Coto de Caza was brought quickly under control by Orange County firefighters. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

ROOF LAWS: County shake-roof laws are patchwork and ineffective. Part II, Page 1.