Back Bay fire extinguished quickly

Mathis Winkler

UPPER NEWPORT BAY -- Twenty-one firefighters from Newport Beach, Costa

Mesa and Orange County battled a half-acre brush fire on the bluffs near

the intersection of Irvine Avenue and Santiago Drive on Saturday.

Unlike a December 1998 fire -- Newport Beach’s biggest -- in almost

the same location, which spread over 10 acres and threatened 20 homes, no

homes were in danger during Saturday’s blaze, said Capt. John Blauer, a

spokesman for the Newport Beach Fire Department. He added that department

officials are still investigating the cause of the fire.

It took six fire engines and two helicopters about 25 minutes to get

the flames under control, Blauer said. He added that residents had first

called about the fire at 4:23 p.m.

The last flames, some of them reaching heights of six feet, were

extinguished less than an hour later, Blauer said.

An engine from Newport Beach fire station No. 6 arrived first on the

scene, closely followed by firefighters from fire station No. 7 in Santa

Ana Heights, Blauer said.

Firefighters began battling the fire with water hoses and later used

shovels and rakes to put out the flames. The two helicopters assisted

with water drops from the air.

Blauer said that the fire had been brought under control swiftly

because the three agencies involved coordinated their efforts. Having two

fire engines respond almost at the same time also helped, he added. Fire

station No. 7 celebrated its grand opening earlier on Saturday.