Newport apartment fire displaces 2 tenants
Two people were displaced by a fire Sunday night that damaged two apartments in Newport Beach, authorities said.
Firefighters responded to a report of a fire alarm at the Coronado at Newport apartments at 880 Irvine Ave. at 8:34 p.m., according to the Newport Beach Fire Department.
Firefighters found smoke coming from an apartment on the third floor. After entering the home, they determined there was a fire in the walls between a second-floor apartment and the third floor, the Fire Department said.
Firefighters opened the walls behind the fireplaces of both apartments to gain access to the blaze.
The fire was extinguished within about 15 minutes, but it caused about $30,000 in damage to the apartments, the Fire Department said.
No one was injured, the department said.
The blaze started when people in the second-floor apartment lit a fire in their fireplace and material in the wall caught fire, Battalion Chief Jeff Boyles said.
The two tenants of the third-floor apartment weren’t home at the time and were told when they returned later that night that the apartment wasn’t safe to stay in, Boyles said.
The American Red Cross and the Fire Department’s new Trauma Intervention Program were called to help the displaced residents.
Boyles said issues with fireplaces at the Coronado at Newport apartments have led to other fires in the past. He did not have further information about those fires.
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