3-car collision kills man in Costa Mesa

A 44-year-old Mission Viejo man died Friday afternoon after a

three-vehicle crash in Costa Mesa, officials said.

Antonio Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene after a woman who

was pulling out of a driveway got hit by a sport utility vehicle,

lost control, became airborne, hit the center median and crashed into

Lopez’s van, police said. Lopez was traveling northbound on Harbor

Boulevard at about 3:15 p.m.

A passenger traveling with Lopez suffered minor injuries and was

taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. No one else was hurt.

No drugs or alcohol were involved in the accident, investigators

said. The exact cause of the accident is unknown, officials said.

It took firefighters about a half-hour to extricate Lopez from the

van, said Battalion Chief Keith Fujimoto.

“The driver’s side of the van was very badly damaged,” he said.

Fujimoto said Lopez died of major head and internal injuries.

No one hurt in Costa Mesa house fire

No one was hurt in a two-alarm fire that torched a bedroom of a

Costa Mesa home, officials said.

Firefighters responded to the call in the 2500 block of Fordham

Drive at about 8:57 p.m. Friday and saw flames coming out of the

front portion of the home, said Shawn Brosamer, Costa Mesa Fire

Department investigator.

“There was only one occupant inside at the time of the fire,” he

said.

Brosamer said the cause of the fire has not been determined but it

did originate in the master bedroom. He said the woman who was in the

house tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher and then a

bucket of water.

“But it got out of control, so she went over to the neighbors and

called 911,” Brosamer said.

An estimate of damages was not available Friday night. It took 25

firefighters about half an hour to get the fire under control.

-- Deepa Bharath