PUBLIC SAFETY Father, son duo saves man...

PUBLIC SAFETY

Father, son duo saves man in burning car

Costa Mesa Fire Chief Jim Ellis and his son, Keith, went beyond

the call of duty last week and saved an unconscious man from a

burning car in Aliso Viejo.

“The car was burning down pretty soon and we had to make an

assessment within a matter of seconds,” Jim Ellis said. “We decided

to pull the man out of the car instead of trying to put out the

fire.”

The victim had suffered severe facial injuries. They dragged him

about 25 feet away from car that, by this time, was fully engulfed in

flames. Fire trucks and paramedics arrived soon and took over from

the father-son duo.

* Costa Mesa has seen an upward trend in robberies which has

continued into this year due in part to a series of hotel robberies,

crime statistics show.

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies caught the men who they believe

were responsible for these robberies that occurred in late December,

January and the first part of February, as well as other hotels

elsewhere.

But the numbers released by the Costa Mesa Police Department show

that there were nine robberies in January and 12 so far in February.

Overall, 141 robberies were reported in 2001, 93 in 2002 and 103 in

2003.

Although 2003 saw an increase, residents have nothing to panic

about, officials said. The numbers are well within the range of what

would be considered normal in Costa Mesa, police said.

-- Deepa Bharath