By Alma Fausto and Chris Haire
The Orange County Register
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Three people, including a firefighter and two likely transients, were injured in a massive fire at an industrial complex early Friday.
The blaze was reported sometime after 2 a.m. in a storage area of the complex, which is in the 800 block of Production Place in Newport Beach, on the border with Costa Mesa.
Firefighters from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley fought the blaze, which was mostly under control by 6 a.m.
One person was hospitalized with third-degree burns and another with smoke inhalation, said Newport Beach Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Boyles.
“We believe they may be transients,” Boyles said. “We think they were in the storage area at 2 a.m., which is an odd place to be.”
The firefighter was hurt while investigating the blaze’s cause when a 200-pound beam fell on him, injuring his neck and back, Boyles said.
The fire, which Boyles said measured about 200 feet by 50 feet, damaged 80 storage units and several vehicles – including pickup trucks, sports cars and boats – in a parking garage or carport.
Ramiro Gonzalez works at a metal-refinishing business nearby and was supposed to start work at 5 a.m. but was met by police tape. “They said we wouldn’t be able to get in for a few hours,” he said.
The cause of the fire was not yet known, but investigators narrowed down the origin to a couple of the storage units, Boyles said. The investigation stopped at nightfall and will restart today.
Kathy Walls, 69, lives nearby and said it was about 2:30 a.m. when she heard a series of blasts.
“It woke me up ... It was very scary, because we have so many industrial places, and I’m sure they have materials that are flammable,” she said.
As of 4:15 p.m. Friday, firefighters were still dumping water on the charred area. The remains were so hot and slowed an estimate of the damages.
“There’s no way to know what’s in those units,” Boyles said. “They could all have school work, or they could be Picassos.”
Fire officials remain worried about hazardous material that burned in Newport Beach blaze https://t.co/BzYkkvPpYK pic.twitter.com/6OKsp7dZU0
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 11, 2016
Three injured, including firefighter, in 4-alarm fire in Newport Beach industrial complex - OCRegister https://t.co/npRBuKqxmi #FireNews
— Emergency Traffic (@Fire_Dispatch) November 12, 2016