Damage From Costa Mesa Fire Could Be More Than $2 Million

Fire officials said the damage from a two-alarm fire that raged through an industrial complex Friday morning could top $2 million, after investigators found out that the blaze had been fueled by a new inventory of Brazilian outdoor furniture.

Steve Feather, aide to Costa Mesa’s battalion chief, said Saturday that owners of a patio furniture business, one of two businesses heavily damaged, reported that a large amount of the wooden furniture from Brazil had been received just two days before the fire.

“There was a high fire load, and the place was maxed out,” Feather said of the damage to Sunbird Enterprises. He said an adjoining maker of boating products, HP Marine, was also gutted.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire, which was reported at 5:11 a.m. Friday in the 1700 block of Monrovia Avenue and took more than four hours to extinguish. Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

Feather said investigators walked through the remains of the single-story complex Saturday and found the roof of the Sunbird business destroyed and the interior gutted.

Officials have said the fire appeared to have started in the Sunbird unit before spreading to HP Marine.