Unattended stove leads to costly fire Food...

Unattended stove leads to costly fire

Food left unattended on a lighted stove burner apparently caused a

two-alarm fire at a Newport Beach apartment complex Thursday

afternoon, fire officials said.

No one was hurt in the fire, but the apartment suffered $20,000 in

damages.

Dave Wilson, an off-duty battalion chief for the Orange County

Fire Authority called 9-1-1 after he saw smoke swirling from the

apartment complex while driving down Jamboree Road, said Jennifer

Schulz, a spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire Department. Wilson

also evacuated the building before firefighters got there, she said.

Firefighters who arrived on scene saw a smoke-filled apartment

with crackling flames in the kitchen, she said. They called a second

alarm and additional firefighters after they realized that the blaze

had spread to the attic and was endangering neighboring apartment

units, Schulz said.

Thirty-eight firefighters from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and the

Orange County Fire Authority responded with six engines, four trucks,

two paramedic units and two battalion chiefs and put out the fire in

about 15 minutes, before it could spread to other units, Schulz said.