COSTA MESA : Graffiti Vandal Suspected in Fires

A vandal who scrawled graffiti on an elementary school Wednesday morning may be responsible for fires at the school and in a nearby parked car that caused about $152,000 damage, authorities said.

Investigators said the two fires started within about half an hour of each other and appear to have been set. No one was injured.

Firefighters were dispatched to Paularino Elementary School at 1060 Paularino Ave. about 2:30 a.m. after a resident called to report that a trailer used as a classroom was fully engulfed in flames, said Susan Wood, a Fire Department spokeswoman.

Sixteen firefighters worked about half an hour to extinguish the fire in the northeast corner of the school grounds. The fire destroyed the modular classroom and books and desks inside.

Firefighters noticed that someone had written profanities about police and schoolchildren on several walls and doors at the school, Wood and school officials said.

At the same time, someone reported a burning car in the 3100 block of Jefferson Avenue, near the school. Two cars near the burning one were marred with graffiti similar to the type at the school, Wood said.

“It’s bizarre,” Wood said. “It’s a shame, too.”

School officials said Paularino was free of graffiti Tuesday night, when last checked.

The school was empty at the time of the fire. Students began summer vacation on June 22, a school district official said.