RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA : House Fire Blamed on Match in Trash
A hot match in the kitchen trash apparently sparked a fire that caused $90,000 in damage to a home in the exclusive Coto de Caza community Sunday afternoon, county fire officials said.
No injuries were reported in the 12:50 p.m. blaze at 38 Lexington Way.
“As near as we can figure,” County Fire Department Capt. Dan Young said, the owner “had a stove that was malfunctioning, and he tried to start it with one of those long fireplace matches.
“When he was unable to do that, he just tossed (the match) in the kitchen trash and left,” Young said. “A simple mistake, but there’s a lesson to be learned there--you gotta let anything cool before you toss it away.”
The blaze took 20 firefighters about 10 minutes to put out.
It caused $60,000 in structural damage to the two-story, single-family home and $30,000 in property damage, Young said. The kitchen was destroyed, and other parts of the home suffered some serious smoke damage.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
