Fire chars small part of Talbert Park

-- Alex Coolman

TALBERT PARK -- Costa Mesa and Newport Beach fire departments battled a

one-acre brush fire in Talbert Regional Park on Saturday evening,

extinguishing the blaze in about three hours.

The cause of the fire, which spread across two 100-foot areas of the park

near 19th Street, is still unknown.

Firefighters responded to dispatchers’ calls at 5 p.m., said Barbara

Marcosa, spokesperson for the Costa Mesa Fire Department.

Capt. Bob Reynolds of the Costa Mesa Fire Department characterized the

blaze as “pretty routine,” but he emphasized that it could have been much

more serious.

“We’ve had a lot worse down there,” Reynolds said. “Any of those can have

the potential to be bad, depending on the wind conditions and the

humidity.”

A number of homeless residents of the park were recently removed from the

park by police, but Reynolds was reluctant to speculate on whether the

evictions were related to the fire.

“I didn’t see any encampments [in the area of the fire]”, Reynolds said.

“But it’s pretty suspicious.”

Reynolds noted that high-voltage lines in the area might also have been

responsible for sparking the blaze.

“The lines weren’t down, but anything could have happened,” he said.

Officials from the Orange County Fire Authority investigated the

incident, but drew no definite conclusions.

“There wasn’t anything that they could put their finger on as far as the

cause,” Marcosa said.