Briefly in the news

A spark from a metal-cutting torch might have caused a small fire on

the roof of the old Hughes Aircraft building Friday afternoon, officials

said.

The one-alarm fire broke out about 4:10 p.m. on the roof of the

building in the 500 block of Superior Avenue. Firefighters who responded

to the call took fewer than 10 minutes to put out the small blaze, said

Newport Beach Fire Capt. Dennis Edwards.

Nobody was in or around the building at the time, so there were no

injuries and very little structural damage to the building, he said.

Workers were in the process of demolishing the building, for which

they used the metal-cutting torches, Edwards said.

“We don’t know how exactly the fire started,” he said. “But it looks

like the torches might have caused it.”