Fireworks Suspected Cause of Blaze at Crystal Cove

A man suspected of firing bottle rockets in Crystal Cove State Park may have started a brush fire Wednesday that destroyed 40 acres of hillside and crept toward a mobile home park, authorities said.

During the five-hour battle to extinguish the blaze, firefighters found Louis Reyes, 26, near El Morro Creek, camping in a makeshift shelter at the bottom of the canyon, said Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority. They also found bottle rockets among his belongings, and Reyes, a transient, admitted setting them off, Brown said.

He was arrested on suspicion of arson and booked into the Orange County Jail, where he remained late Wednesday.

“Obviously, in such hot, dry conditions, a lit fuse of any type could cause a lot of damage very quickly,” Brown said. “But he’s been very cooperative, and our investigators are not finished sorting this whole thing out yet.”

The fire was an eerie reminder for neighbors who survived the devastating 1993 Laguna Beach fire, which destroyed 40 trailers. Although no one was evacuated from the El Morro Beach Mobile Home Park on Wednesday, nervous residents kept in close contact with firefighters.

“This just breaks my heart,” said Martina Clark, who watched the fire that began at 1:45 p.m. about 1 1/2 miles away.

While ground crews fought to keep the fire from working its way past a ridgeline, three helicopters dumped thousands of gallons of seawater to help beat back the flames. Two planes also sprayed fire retardant over the blaze.

The day’s blistering temperatures hindered the efforts of 100 firefighters who stalked the blaze, and at least two were treated at for heat exhaustion.

“It’s been really bad out there for them,” Brown said. “It’s easy to get fatigued in that heat.”