Where There Was Smoker, There’s Fire in Danger Zone : Blaze: Motorist reports burning brush just half a mile from where devastating Laguna firestorm began. Angry investigators blame carelessly discarded cigarette butt.

A smoldering cigarette tossed from a passing car Tuesday afternoon ignited a one-acre fire near where last October’s devastating Laguna Beach fire began, the Orange County Fire Department said.

The fire began burning about 2 p.m. in a grassy area between the southbound and northbound lanes of Laguna Freeway near the San Diego Freeway junction. The blaze was reported via cellular telephone by a passing motorist, fire Capt. Dan Young said.

The fire was just half a mile from the location of the Oct. 27 fire that roared over more than 16,000 acres and damaged or destroyed more than 400 homes in Laguna Beach, Canyon Acres, Emerald Bay and the El Moro Beach Mobile Home Park.

“The fact that someone can drive down a road and toss out a cigarette in an area where we just lost 400 homes leaves me speechless,” Young said. “This kind of behavior can burn communities and it is irresponsible.”

Fire investigators also were astonished and angry to find hundreds of other cigarette butts in the immediate area, apparently tossed by passing motorists, Young said.

“This is Southern California and it’s fire season,” he said. “People need to get a grasp on where they live and what they do.”

Ironically, it was last year’s Laguna fire that made Tuesday’s blaze less threatening. Much of the thick brush in the area that had served as a source of fuel was burned in the October fire, which was also quickly spread by gusty winds, Young said.

“There’s a limit as to how far this fire could have burned because we don’t have Santa Ana winds, and there’s not a lot of vegetation anymore,” Young said.

However, Young warned, between 15,000 and 20,000 acres of thick vegetation between the San Diego Freeway and the south side of the city remain intact and continue to pose a threat.

It took 40 firefighters about 35 minutes to control the fire. No injuries or damage was reported.

The fire forced officials to close several surrounding roadways for more than two hours, including portions of roads leading to the Laguna Freeway.