15 Displaced by California Three-Alarm Fire

Charred structures and vehicles remained Friday morning after a three-alarm fire damaged six homes, four garages, destroyed two cars, a motorcycle and left 15 people displaced.

Orange County Fire Authority officials responded around midnight to an initial two-alarm structure fire in the 20 block of Silverwood, OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi said.

Resident Atraye Banerjee said she heard a big sound around midnight and saw tall, orange flames from her bed. When she rushed out with her husband and daughter, they saw other neighbors who were awaiting help.

By the time firefighters arrived, big flames were showing from garages and by 12:45 a.m., the fire escalated to three alarms.

“I was so panicked,” Banerjee said. “My daughter was crying and thought the house was lost.”

Seventy-five OCFA firefighters had the fire under control by 1 a.m. but not before three condos were damaged by the flames and another three were damaged by smoke, officials said.

“The heat was so much that the trash cans burned like candles,” Banjeree said.

A total of 15 people – 13 adults and two teens – were displaced, Concialdi said.

Left without water, power or gas, Banerjee and her family relocated elsewhere around 3 a.m. to stay with a cousin. Banerjee said their home was undamaged by fire, but filled with smoke.

By 9 a.m., they were able to make an escorted return for some belongings, but firefighters instructed them to remain vacated for 4 more days until the smoke and chemicals cleared out, she said.

Investigators later determined, after a small bulldozer removed two destroyed cars and a motorcycle out of the four charred garages, that a machine used to engrave or etch wood either malfunctioned or was left unattended causing it to over overheat in one of the garages, OCFA Battalion Chief Steve Edwards said.

It was not initially known what kind of equipment likely caused the fire, Concialdi said.

“There was just so much damage,” Concialdi said.

Officials estimated about $1 million worth of structural damage, and $500,000 worth of contents were destroyed.