2 West Anaheim Roof Fires Cause $250,000 Damage : Blaze: ‘What a disaster!’ one homeowner says. Police question a neighbor and suspect that illegal bottle rockets touched off shakes.

Don Pedersen will never forget the day he and his wife, Phyllis, moved into their stucco house in the 2600 block of Westhaven Drive.

“It was June 21, 1957,” he said. “It was brand new, just like the rest of them in the neighborhood.”

Saturday was a day that Pedersen, 73, and his wife is not likely to forget, either, as they watched firefighters break holes through their ceiling and roof and hose down their living room to fight a stubborn blaze that officials believe was caused by illegal fireworks.

“What a disaster!” Pedersen said, surveying the damage in damp house shoes.

Disaster seemed to be the order of the day in this quiet West Anaheim neighborhood. Just across the street, Michael Maggard blankly stared at the remains of his rented home in the 600 block of Verona Street. He and his wife had just returned to find flames shooting through their roof and their charred couch sitting on the front lawn.

“From what I understand,” Maggard said, wiping his face, “they (police) caught somebody shooting off bottle rockets. I had no idea it could be this bad.”

The two homes burned in separate fires, but police said one suspect is believed to have fired the rockets that caused both.

Damage was estimated at $125,000 each.

No injuries were reported from the fires, which brought 38 firefighters from Anaheim, Buena Park and Orange. But officials said it could have been much worse if winds had blown burning embers to the shake rooftops of neighboring homes.

Instead, firefighters arrived to find anxious residents on rooftops hosing down their properties--and almost no wind.

“When I pulled up here, I was greatly concerned with the wood-shingle roofs,” Anaheim Fire Department Battalion Chief Rudy Weyland said. “We were very lucky on this one.”

Police and fire investigators were questioning one suspect Saturday night in the neighborhood. Officials said fireworks were found inside the suspect’s residence. No arrest was made.

Fire officials said it appeared that bottle rockets had ignited the fires on tinder-dry shakes. All fireworks have been outlawed in the city since 1986, Anaheim Battalion Chief Steve Magliocco said.

Pedersen said he was alerted to trouble about 2:55 p.m., when he heard what he thought were gunshots. When he walked outside, he saw flames shooting from the roof of his neighbor’s home and went inside to call the Fire Department.

“I walked out again, and I saw my own roof was on fire,” he said. “It was a hot fire for a while.”

Moments later, he said, the smoke was so dense that he could not see.

Magliocco said the first units on the scene were not aware of the second fire at Pedersen’s home and then were forced to split the unit to battle both fires.

Weyland said fogging hoses were set up to launch a fine mist into the air, which kept flames from jumping to other homes.

Weyland said the fires were particularly dangerous to fight, because firefighters had to battle the flames from inside and out, making them vulnerable to possible roof collapses.

He said no firefighters were injured in one minor roof collapse in the Maggard home. That blaze spread to the garage, where the family car was damaged.

A second alarm was sounded minutes after the first units arrived, bringing aid from the other cities to the scene. Magliocco said both fires were controlled within 30 minutes.

Maggard said his wife had gone to pick him up in Orange, where he works at a muffler shop, leaving their two dogs in the back yard. Before she arrived, he said, someone had called his shop to tell him about the fire.

“I didn’t know what had happened,” he said.

By the time the Maggards arrived home, firefighters had the blaze pretty much under control. The couple found their dogs swimming in a neighbor’s back-yard pool.

Magliocco said the Maggards did not have renter insurance, which covers tenants’ possessions.

This weekend’s hot, dry weather caused the Orange County Fire Department to monitor hills closely and take other firefighting precautions.

County Fire Capt. Dan Young said that under current conditions, county fire officials are increasing responses to fire alarms.

“For a single report, we are sending the maximum amount of gear,” he said.

He added that people should be wary of habits that can cause fires, including throwing cigarette butts out of car windows and allowing dry brush to grow next to homes.