Garden Grove Man Calls Police to Confess Setting Tustin Plant Blaze
A Garden Grove resident confessed Saturday to touching off a blaze at a Tustin meatpacking plant last July that burned for five hours and destroyed the building, Tustin police said.
Gary Don Lyles, 30, phoned Tustin police from Garden Grove Saturday morning to confess to the July 30, 1989, fire at the Tustin Meat Co., according to Police Lt. Robert Schoenkopf.
Police did not say why Lyles set the fire, or why he waited more than eight months to give himself up. Investigators on the case were unavailable for comment Saturday.
Schoenkopf said Garden Grove police detained Lyles until Tustin police and Orange County fire officials arrived. After interviewing Lyles, Tustin police booked him on arson charges.
The fire, which caused an estimated $1 million in damage, broke out in the 40-year-old plant at 200 El Camino Real in the Old Town section at 8 p.m. last July 30, and burned until 1 a.m. the next day. Flames shot 30 feet into the sky at times.
About 100 firefighters from the Orange County, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Westminster fire departments battled the blaze. One firefighter was slightly injured.
The meatpacking plant was operated by the Pacific Meat Co. at the time of the fire. Company officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.
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