Anger Sparked Arson, Fire Officials Say : Blaze: Woman is arrested after apartment fire that authorities say began when she tried to burn her boyfriend’s clothes. Roommate, neighbors escape injury.

SANTA ANA — A woman who tried to burn her boyfriend’s clothes was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of arson after the fire got out of control, destroyed their apartment and damaged an adjoining one, fire officials said.

Reghia Mahmoud, 27, fled the flaming apartment, leaving a roommate sleeping on the living room floor, fire investigator Don MacDonald said.

“It could have been a lot more dangerous,” MacDonald said. The roommate “didn’t know about the fire and he could have wound up dead.”

Mahmoud told fire investigators that she had lit a bedroom closet on fire because she was upset with her boyfriend, who was not home. When the fire spread, Mahmoud ran from the apartment at 2800 W. 17th Street, MacDonald said.

The roommate, Husham Sahdeldeine, 32, was awakened about 5 a.m. by a smoke alarm. He tried to put the fire out with buckets of water, then ran upstairs to warn other tenants, MacDonald said.

It took firefighters about 10 minutes to control the blaze, Battalion Chief Jim Dalton said.

“Every room in the apartment was burning, and the flames were extending to an upstairs apartment,” Dalton said. “The downstairs apartment was totally gutted, everything inside was gone.”

Firefighters evacuated 14 people from surrounding apartments. No one was injured, but damage was estimated at $60,000 to Mahmoud’s apartment.

Mahmoud was held at Orange County Jail on $25,000 bail.