Fires busy Costa Mesa firefighters

James Meier

COSTA MESA -- Shirley Wyman celebrated the Fourth of July on Thursday

evening with family and friends in the front yard of the Westside house

she’s lived in for more than 20 years.

It was still a bit early for fireworks as the sun had yet to set, but

that didn’t stop several festive residents near Linden Place. Just before

7:25 p.m. Thursday, a fire ignited on the lower brush filled hillside

behind Wyman’s home, interrupting the festivities.

“Everybody rushed over with the hoses,” she said, explaining that she

and her neighbors first hosed down nearby homes whose owners were out of

town. With a garden hose in hand, Wyman also sprayed toward the dry

hillside until the paid firefighters arrived.

Once about 17 Costa Mesa firefighters arrived on the scene, it took

about 10 minutes to extinguish the fire, said Costa Mesa Fire Battalion

Chief Gregg Steward. But he appreciated the residents’ help, he expressed

concern over fighting brush fires.

“We don’t anyone to get in harm’s way,” Steward said. “In dry brush,

even firefighters can get killed.”

Though investigations were ongoing, he suggested that fireworks were

to blame.

“If I was a betting man, I would bet on fireworks -- probably illegal

fireworks,” he said as firefighters continued to spray the hillside as a

precaution.

Later in the night, shortly before 9 p.m., firefighters rushed to

another Costa Mesa fire. Steward said about two bedrooms of an apartment

in the 100 block of Santa Isabel Avenue caught fire, but wasn’t sure

whether fireworks had started that blaze.

Again, about 17 firefighters battled the fire, which appeared to have

“gone on for a while before we got here,” Steward said. In order to

better fight the blaze, firefighters used a chain saw to open the roof to

allow the smoke to ventilate. Once visibility became reasonable,

firefighters entered the home, which was also vacant. About 20 minutes

later, the fire was out.

No one was hurt in either blaze, Steward said, but extensive damage

was expected at the apartment.

* James Meier is the city editor. He can be reached at (949) 764-4324

or by e-mail at o7 james.meier@latimes.comf7 .