Another fire burns complex

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Residents of a normally quiet townhouse complex gathered

in mass to witness yet another neighbor’s home engulfed in flames

Saturday, with memories of a deadly, explosive fire still fresh in their

minds.

Firefighters responded to a call from the Monticello Town Homes

Complex at 5:21 p.m. -- just days after extinguishing another blaze in

the same complex.

The fire, which engulfed a two-story home in the 100 block of

Lexington Avenue, left one family homeless but did not injure any people.

However, two dogs and three cats died in the fire. Two other cats and

three turtles are still missing.

“We were just inside a minute earlier,” Julie May said, as she looked

incredulously at her burning home. She walked over to her crying

daughters, hugged them tightly and added, “at least nobody’s hurt.”

May said no electrical appliances were on when she left, adding she

has no idea what could have started the fire.

She and her daughters, Jessica and Kelsey May, were at the complex’s

pool across the street when the fire started. As firefighters battled the

flames, the girls held their dog, Molly, who escaped, and grieved over

the death of the other animals.

Kelsey May said a firefighter told her he found the dead dogs laying

next to each other just near the front door.

“They say that dogs aren’t people, but to us they were family,” a

crying Jessica May said.

Mike Pacini, who was painting a nearby home, said he heard the dogs

yelping and grabbed a water hose to fight the flames.

He went to the door to try to save them but it was just too hot, he

said.

Dozens of concerned neighbors gathered at the recreation center

directly across from the fire, pondering the eerie coincidence between

Saturday’s blaze and a Thursday morning fire that left a man dead.

Rick Byrd was driving his remote-control car on Lexington Avenue when

he saw smoke coming out the window. Byrd said he saw flames at the front

door of the home and yelled to his neighbors to get out of the house.

“After what happened here the other day, this is outrageous,” Byrd

said.

Neighbor Lori Hammarlund agreed.

“This is crazy,” she said.

Early Thursday morning a series of thunderous explosions rocked the

townhouse complex with blasts so powerful they shattered the windows of

nearby homes and literally shook all those within a one-block radius.

The subsequent fire gutted an apartment in the 2300 block of Richmond

Way and killed its elderly resident, who is still unidentified.

Neighbor Nick Kissamitakis said the two fires make him nervous.

“Hopefully they’ll do an inspection of all these places,” Kissamitakis

said.

Late Saturday night, Costa Mesa Fire Battalion Chief Gregg Steward

said he was still unsure what caused the fire in the May home.

Steward said most of the damage was downstairs but the fire worked its

way to parts of the attic. When firefighters arrived flames were jumping

out the front windows and the roof. Once they evacuated the surrounding

homes, they immediately started cutting holes in the roof to douse the

flames. The blaze was knocked down in 30 minutes and the surrounding

homes were saved.

Once the flames were put out and the smoke had cleared, the Mays got a

better look at their scorched home.

A pink purse, hanging from a hall closet door, looked strangely out of

place as it seemed untouched by the fire. Its bright color was a stark

contrast to the charred, black walls in the home. Trees on the front

porch were knocked over and shards of glass from the shattered windows

littered the sidewalk.

Steward said the neighbors were allowed to return to their homes but

the May family will have to find another place to stay. A firefighter was

injured at the scene when a piece of heavy equipment fell on his foot,

Steward said.

The investigation into both fires is ongoing.

Fire officials have sent various pieces of evidence from Thursday’s

explosion to different labs to be tested for chemicals, Steward said.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .