Briefly in the news

An explosion at a metal-finishing plant in the 800 block of Production

Place in Newport Beach on Wednesday created minor property damage but no

injuries, a fire department spokesman said.

Two cans of aircraft paint, which were near industrial ovens at Hixson

Metal Finishing, exploded at around 11:20 a.m. The ovens were damaged,

but by the time firefighters arrived at the scene, the small fire had

been extinguished.

In the mid-1980s, a more serious explosion at the plant was traced to

the cancer-related deaths of a firefighter and a police officer.

Officials said chemical contaminants were shown to be factors in those

two deaths. Wednesday’s incident did not appear to create any chemical

hazards, authorities said.