A string of fires keeps crews busy in Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley and Newport Beach
This weekend was busy for local fire crews, who responded to a garage fire in Costa Mesa Saturday, a blaze that broke out inside a Fountain Valley 24 Hour Fitness Sunday and an apartment complex in Newport Beach early Monday.
The incidents, which took place in different local jurisdictions, ultimately resulted in the evacuation of multiple residents and scores of gym members, the hospitalization of two apartment tenants and the temporary closure of all three structures.
The first incident took place on the 3100 block of College Avenue at around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, when Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue personnel received a call that a unit inside a row of detached garages near a residential complex had become engulfed in flames.
Crews arrived on scene to find heavy smoke conditions and flames in one of the garages, along with a report of at least one individual remaining inside the impacted structures, CMFR reported on social media Sunday.
Firefighters worked aggressively to extinguish the fire and evacuate individuals residing in units near the blaze that could have been affected were the flames not contained. While the fire was isolated to the single garage, adjacent units did sustain smoke damage, officials reported.
Ultimately, four people were relocated from the structure, Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano confirmed Monday. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Sunday’s fire in Fountain Valley, at a 24-Hour Fitness at 17200 Brookhurst St. broke out shortly after 8:30 p.m., when fire personnel discovered a small fire in a wall near the gym’s roof, according to spokesman Capt. Nick Fasullo, who was at the scene.
About 50 people inside the building were evacuated to safety, while crews worked to pinpoint the exact location of the blaze with help from Fountain Valley police, who flew an unmanned drone capable of creating thermal images above the structure.
“This was a hard to find fire — it was in a wall in a confined space — so it really helped us locate that,” Fasullo said of the drone. “[The fire] was only visible from the roof, and it was very small, so the drone came in handy.”
No one was injured during the incident, but a call to the Brookhurst Street 24 Hour Fitness on Monday was answered by an automatic message indicating the facility was temporarily closed “due to hazardous fire conditions in the area.”
In a third incident early Monday morning on the 20100 block of Santa Ana Avenue in Newport Beach, firefighters were called to a report of a structure fire at the Fairway Villas Apartments, Newport Beach fire spokesman David Gibson confirmed Monday.
Crews arrived to find a single-story apartment complex with heavy smoke issuing from inside a central unit, according to a news release issued Monday afternoon. About 40 first responders attacked the blaze, quickly extinguishing all flames and embers.
Two occupants at the property, who fled to a rear patio area during the blaze, were treated by paramedics on scene and transported to a local hospital for further treatment, the release stated. No other injuries were reported.
That incident is still being investigated, and the building was subsequently red-tagged by the city’s Building Department, meaning it cannot be inhabited, officials reported.
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