Costa Mesa Carport Fire, Church Fire, Connection Questioned

In Costa Mesa, October has started with two days of two fires at parking structures. On Oct.

Costa Mesa Police are investigating whether arson was involved at a Sunday, Oct. 2 fire that burned three cars in a church parking lot. The call originally came in at just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

Costa Mesa Firefighters were called to the 700 block of Victoria Street. Three cars were burning. Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Mike Manson reported that one of the vehicles appeared to be parked in the lot "due to mechanical problems." The OC Register reported that Costa Mesa Police were investigating that fire as arson. Three cars were destroyed in that fire.

No structures were damaged in that blaze.

On Monday, Oct. 3, another fire was reported at a Costa Mesa, this time at a carport on the 2700 block of Peterson Place. Multiple vehicles were involved in that fire, according to Costa Mesa Fire Department, via twitter release.

Firefighters on scene were able to smother the blaze and put out the carport fire quickly but multiple vehicles were still a total loss.

Costa Mesa Fire Department Public Information Officer, Capt. Chris Coates stated that there were no injuries at either fire.

"An arson investigation team was brought out to assess the scene," Coates said. "Firefighters believe the cause of the fire was suspicious."

"We'll figure out if there's a correlation or not," between the two fires, two fires, Coates said.

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Image: Costa Mesa Fire Department, Courtesy