DANA POINT : Melted Pan Ignites Blaze in Kitchen

Three occupants of an upstairs apartment escaped injury Thursday morning in a blaze that fire officials said was ignited by a melted aluminum pan left overnight on a hot electric burner.

The 7:45 a.m. fire in a triplex on the 33000 block of Street of the Violet Lantern was contained in the kitchen, but resulted in $50,000 damage to the structure and contents, said Kathleen Cha, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Department.

It took 26 firefighters about 13 minutes to bring the blaze under control, she said. No other units in the building were damaged.

Residents of the damaged unit returned home from night-shift jobs and went to sleep about 1 a.m., Cha said. They were awakened by a smoke alarm and were able to escape. A neighbor saw the smoke and called the Fire Department, Cha said.