Family to sleep in hotel after fire burns apartment

One family remains displaced after a botched plumbing repair job caused a fire in a Costa Mesa apartment complex, American Red Cross officials said Thursday.

The family walked into Red Cross offices today for help, said Red Cross spokeswoman Shelly Parsons. The family will be put up in a hotel for two more days before returning to their apartment at 3025 Fillmore Way, she said.

At about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday firefighters noticed smoke coming out of a second-floor window, authorities said. Firefighters found the blaze inside a wall upstairs between two apartment units, Battalion Chief William Kershaw said. It took three fire crews, one in each apartment unit and one on the roof, to put out the blaze, he said.

Fire officials said the blaze started when a plumber used a blowtorch to fix some pipes in the wall.

Three families totaling 14 people were displaced for the night. Two families returned to their apartment Thursday, Parsons said.

— Joseph Serna