Fires strike Corona del Mar homes

Deepa Bharath

CORONA DEL MAR -- It took 20 firefighters about half an hour to put

out a fire that caused at least $180,000 in damages Monday morning to a

home in the 3800 block of Ocean Birch Drive.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze, which officials said originated in the

garage or laundry room of the one-story four-bedroom house south of

Spyglass Hill Road off of San Joaquin Hills Road.

Stephanie Thais, 34, of Laguna Beach was the sole occupant of the

house at the time of the fire. Thais, who was visiting her parents over

the weekend, said she was awakened by loud fire alarms and the smell of

smoke around 11:20 a.m.

She said she then got up and rushed to the laundry room, where she saw

smoke coming out of the dryer. She immediately turned off all electrical

appliances and ran out of the house through a side door.

According to officials, the garage, a parked car and the laundry room

were destroyed, and four adjoining bedrooms suffered major structural

damage. Most of the dining room, kitchen and family room experienced

moderate smoke damage.

“I saw flames shooting up,” said Thais, who was in tears Monday

morning, surrounded by firefighters, trucks and engines. She stood in the

rain, still in her pajamas and clutching a blanket as her mother Margerie

Thais, neighbors and paramedics consoled her.

Curious passersby stopped their cars on San Joaquin Hills Drive and

walked up to Ocean Birch to look at the fire.

Thais said she was glad she stayed back at her parents’.

“My mom and I, we had dinner last night,” she said. “And I stayed

over. I’m happy I did. But it was horrible this morning to just stand

here and watch the house burning.”

Her family has lived there for more than 20 years.

Fighting the fire was quite a challenge, said Battalion Chief George

Pearce.

“We had two challenges because when we got here there were 20- to

30-foot flames,” he said. “And they were getting close to the home next

door.”

The fire damaged a few shingles on the roof of the neighboring home,

officials said.

Thais’ father, Robert, said he saw smoke as he was driving on the

Corona del Mar Freeway from Costa Mesa.

“I saw the thick smoke and thought, “Oh my God, oh my god, that’s

right on top of our house,’ he said. “At first I thought it was in our

neighborhood, but I never dreamed it would be my house.”

Monday was a busy day for the Newport Beach firefighters. The late

morning blaze was the second fire they fought in Corona del Mar. An

earlier one hit a 1907, five-bedroom home in the 2900 block of Ocean

Boulevard around 3:15 a.m., officials said.

The cause of the fire was not known, but most of the home’s second

floor suffered heavy smoke and heat damage. Nobody was hurt.

The Thais’ neighbor, Alysun Turner, said she was shocked that two

unrelated fires would happen on the same day within miles of each other.

Turner said she called 911 as soon as she looked out the window and

saw the giant flames in the house across the street. Firefighters had

responded by then, she said.

“The flames were huge,” said Turner. “I heard popping noises, too. It

was pretty scary.”