Explosive fire kills one

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- A fire rocked a townhouse complex with explosions early

Thursday morning, leaving one man dead as it burned through his garage,

shattered neighbors’ windows and sent people scurrying from their homes.

Firefighters responded to the call from the Monticello Town Homes

Complex about 3:30 a.m. The fire, which originated in a home’s garage in

the 2300 block of Richmond Way, caused at least three explosions, said

Costa Mesa Fire Battalion Chief Gregg Steward.

“By the time we got here, one townhome was fully engulfed,” he said.

“There were a lot of people in nearby homes still asleep, so we had to

get them out of bed and out of their homes to a safe place.”

The home where the fire started was completely gutted. One other home

suffered severe damage to the front, Steward said. Between 15 and 20

people had to leave their homes, but by the end of the day some of them

came back, he said.

“Right now, we have five units that still cannot be occupied,” Steward

said Thursday evening. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of

the fire.

It took 50 firefighters about 40 minutes to get the fire under

control, Steward said.

The Orange County coroner was unable to identify the victims’s body

because “it was burned beyond recognition,” Investigator Rod Thomas said.

The coroner arrived about 10:30 a.m., after first being turned away from

the scene just an hour after it happened.

“We just don’t know enough about this individual,” he said. “We will

have to strategize and think of other ways to identify this person. It

could involve fingerprinting, trying to locate his family, dental charts

or even determining if he has had any surgeries in the past.”

Thomas said it could be at least a day before they can get any

information about the victim.

Neighbors said they believed the victim often did welding work in his

garage and had paint cans and other chemicals stored there.

Mary Lu Dobashi, who lives in the apartment across from the victim,

said her encounters with him were brief. But, she added, he did a lot of

work in his garage and helped his neighbors when he could.

Dobashi said one winter when a pipe burst in her kitchen, she ran over

to his house hoping to get help. And she got it.

“Water was gushing everywhere, and I didn’t know what to do,” she

said. “He came over and turned off the water and saved me from more

damage.”

Dobashi said her former neighbor was quite a handyman and frequently

fixed wheelchairs for his guests.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department hazardous materials unit was

also called in and determined there were no dangerous substances in the

garage, he said.

“Garage fires are very scary because you don’t know what’s in there,”

Steward said. “People work in their garages, some even make weapons or

bullets. There could be other chemicals in there too.”

Fire investigators from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach cleared the

garage Thursday morning before they could go in to assess the damage.

The property management was boarding up the broken windows in several

units so at least some of the residents could return to their homes,

officials said.

The Red Cross helped find accommodation for one person, said field

supervisor Craig Konrad.

“We believe the others are staying temporarily with friends or

family,” he said.

Several neighbors said the early morning incident, which jolted them

out of their slumber and brought them running out in their pajamas, was

surreal and terrible.

Brian Birkhauser, who lives doors away from the victim, said he saw

that the man was on fire when he came running out of his house through

the garage.

“Another neighbor who lives across from him brought a fire

extinguisher and put out the fire on him,” he said. “But the man ran back

into the garage, caught on fire again and never came back out.”

Birkhauser said he could not figure out why he went back in.

“He seemed out of it,” he said. “He seemed disoriented.”

Officials initially suspected there could have been another fatality

in the explosion because of witnesses’ reports that the victim went back

into the house. But, as of Thursday evening, officials said they had

inspected most of the home and did not find anyone else.

Jan Saporito was asleep on a futon in her living room when she heard

the explosion and almost fell off the bed, she said. Her front door is

across from the victim’s front door.

“I opened the door, and I saw fire leaping out at me,” she said. “It

was a huge explosion. It felt like a train going through your house. At

first, I though it was an earthquake.”

Saporito said she burned her hand as she tried to put out the flames

that had spread into the bushes outside her home. .

“God! The smell!” she exclaimed as she looked out at what was left of

her shattered glass windows and into the charred remains of the victim’s

home. “It was such a strange smell with all the smoke.”

Richard Price and his roommate Daniel Buckley lived on the other side

of the complex. But they came running over when they heard the explosion

and succeeded in rescuing an elderly couple and their dog.

“We were crawling on the floor because of the smoke,” Price said. “We

couldn’t see anything. All I know was I felt a lot of heat and a lot of

light. It was all adrenaline. It was totally terrifying.”

Some neighbors said they just couldn’t help but look at the positive

side of what was clearly a terrifying experience to many.

“Before this happened, we hardly knew our neighbors,” said Becky

Fisher. “Today, there were people helping other people they didn’t even

know. It’s really nice how all of us came together in a time like this.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .

-- Lolita Harper contributed to this story.