SANTA ANA : 6 Families Evacuated; Fire Extinguished

Six families were evacuated from their homes for two hours Sunday afternoon while fire engine companies from four cities battled a brush fire in the Santiago Creek riverbed.

“We were very lucky,” said Bill Zastrow, a battalion chief with the Santa Ana Fire Department. “With a minimum amount of wind, we got a lot of people there really quickly, had a good water supply and put the fire out. This could have been a whole different story; as it turned out, it was a good story.”

Zastrow said the blaze--which consumed about an acre of brush, bamboo trees and shrubbery--caused only minor damage, affecting the attic of one nearby house, the shake roof of another and several back-yard fences.

No injuries were reported resulting from the 1 p.m. blaze, although Zastrow said there were unconfirmed reports that several pet birds in a back-yard aviary might have been killed.

Though arson investigators were called to the scene, the chief said, they had not yet determined whether the fire had been set deliberately or resulted from natural causes.

“There were reports of a loud noise,” Zastrow said. “Perhaps a gunshot, fireworks or a transformer blowing. At this point we just don’t know; we’re still looking at it.”