Backhoe, Water Truck Help Stem Blaze
Fire officials are crediting a backhoe operator and a Newport Beach city water truck for helping to stem a brush fire that burned 2 1/2 acres Thursday. The 2:35 p.m. fire was sparked by an acetylene torch at the Kadane Oil Field as welders were cutting an old, abandoned steam pipe on the west Newport Beach oil field, fire officials said.
Members of the welding crew tried to put out the fire with extinguishers, but a gust of wind caused it to spread up the canyon faster than it could be controlled.
A backhoe operator cut a quick fire line that slowed the spread of the fire, and a city water truck also helped prevent the fast-moving fire from spreading to properties on Monrovia Avenue, fire officials said.
Nineteen firefighters from Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and the Costa Mesa fire departments responded to the blaze and controlled it by 3:17 p.m.
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