Saddleback Lodge Apartment Fire Injures 3, Displaces 18: OCFA

SANTA ANA, CA — Questions circle around a hotel fire that severely burned at least one person overnight. A woman was detained and questioned by fire investigators and police Wednesday morning after the three-story converted apartment building in Santa Ana.

A total of three people were hurt, including the man who suffered traumatic burn injuries, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito said. The call came just after midnight to the Saddleback Lodge, formerly a hotel now being converted to Studio Apartments, according to the manager's statement.

Firefighters arrived to find the building in the 1600 block of East First Street with "heavy fire coming from the second and third floors," according to Bommarito.

Nearly 80 firefighters worked the three alarm blaze that burned on the second and third floors of the building. The fire was extinguished in just under 45 minutes, he said. At least eight units were damaged or destroyed and 18 people were displaced. The Red Cross was called in to help those unable to return to their homes.

A 30-year-old man was taken to a hospital in critical condition with burn injuries, Bommarito said. A woman in her 30s suffered burns to her feet and was seriously injured, he said.

The woman who was being questioned about the fire -- which was deemed suspicious -- suffered minor injuries, Bommarito said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

OCFA photo