Teens suspected of setting fires

Police detained a Newport Beach teenager and were looking for two others Wednesday in connection with at least one intentionally set fire at a Newport Beach country club Monday.6

Police are investigating whether the three teenagers are also responsible for two additional brush fires in Newport Beach set on golf course grounds.

With continued hot, dry weather, the fire danger is at a seasonal high, and officials said even small fires can pose a significant risk.

“The issue is they [the fires] were close to a lot of combustible fuel,” Newport Beach Police Sgt. Bill Hartford said of the dry brush in the area.

One 15-year-old boy, who was on probation for a burglary charge, was being held Wednesday at Orange County Juvenile Hall in the city of Orange, Hartford said. He was taken into custody Monday after a staff member at the Big Canyon Country Club reported that three young men had started a fire on the edge of the country club grounds. Two of the teenagers escaped, but a staff member detained the 15-year-old, police said. The staff member told police that the teenagers were seen feeding a fire near a dry hill.

Police said the three teenagers might be responsible for two additional arson fires on Saturday and Sunday. They believe the fires are connected because of their proximity and the time of day that two of the fires were set, Hartford said.

Saturday, firefighters responded to a grass fire that burned less than a quarter of an acre on the sixth hole at the Big Canyon Country Club golf course, police said.

Staff at the Hyatt Regency Newport discovered smoldering newspapers in dry grass near the seventh hole on the golf course Sunday. Staff members used sand and water to extinguish the fire before firefighters arrived.

The Newport Beach Fire Department participates in a countywide educational program for young fire-starters. Fire Friends is a free, confidential intervention program for first-time fire-setters, said Newport Fire Capt. Jerry Strom.

“Our whole intent is to make them aware of what the potential is, what they’re getting into and that it’s wrong,” Strom said.