Blaze in Corona del Mar destroys garage, two cars

Neighbors use hoses to contain fire until firefighters arrive; owner and her dog escape uninjured.A fire in the engine of an SUV may be to blame for a blaze that torched the garage of a Corona del Mar house late Tuesday, fire officials said.

The owner of the house, Newport Beach Realtor Diane Coltrane, escaped safely with her dog. The fire singed the eves of a neighboring house, but no one was injured, officials said.

Coltrane was upstairs watching a basketball game on TV when the power went out. She grabbed her Yorkshire Terrier and went outside to investigate.

That’s when she saw smoke and flames coming from her garage, located in the alley.

“The garage door was already half gone ... it was fully engulfed,” Coltrane said.

Coltrane dialed 911 from her cell phone; neighbors brought out hoses to try to contain the fire and prevent it from burning nearby structures. The fire spread to the guestroom and office unit above the garage and reached the roof edge of a neighbor’s house before firefighters put it out using water and foam.

“It pretty much consumed the entire garage,” said Firefighter Paramedic Chip Duncan.

The fire resulted in $400,000 in damage, including the destruction of Coltrane’s two luxury cars -- an Acura SUV and a new BMW convertible.

Sally Schoen lives across the alley from Coltrane’s garage. She looked out of her window Tuesday night and saw fire coming from the cars.

“The whole thing [the garage] was just a wall of flames,” Schoen said.

Schoen said neighbors rallied, getting people out of their houses and using water hoses to prevent the fire from spreading.

“The neighborhood was out in force last night,” Schoen said.

Wednesday, a tearful Coltrane recalled the events of the night before.

She had gotten home around 5:30 p.m., parked her Acura in the garage and went upstairs to watch the Los Angeles Clippers play the San Antonio Spurs. The game went into overtime, but Coltrane never saw how it ended -- the fire disrupted the power lines, and her electricity went off.

“I still don’t know who won the Clippers game,” Coltrane said.

The bare metal skeletons of her cars were still in the garage, resting on wheels that had been twisted by the heat.

Although now tasked with sorting through the damage, she said she’s thankful that no one was hurt and that the fire didn’t spread to neighboring homes. Coltrane must now look for a place to rent; she can’t live in her house until utilities are restored, she said.

* LAUREN VANE covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at lauren.vane@latimes.com.

20051215irim2fknDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Mike Mullins, son of owner Diane Coltrane, takes photographs of cars that burned during a fire in the garage behind a house on Poppy Avenue. The blaze Tuesday evening also damaged a guest room.