Accident: Six other nearby units, some recently occupied, are damaged after plumber's soldering torch sparks wind-whipped fire. One firefighter is slightly hurt.

ANAHEIM – A wind driven fire, accidentally sparked by a plumber's soldering torch, destroyed 20 condominium units under construction Saturday morning and damaged six more nearby, many of which had been occupied within the past month.

An Anaheim firefighter, who was treated for difficulty breathing suffered the lone injury attributed to the blaze. But eight people were displaced from five homes, at least two of which caught fire and were completely gutted, as the fire was quickly by winds of 15 to 20 m.p.h. and hazardous dry conditions, Red Cross and fire officials said.

Within minutes after the fire started at the Summit Renaissance condos under construction off Sandstone Drive, a wall of flame moved quickly toward a row of 24 mostly inhabited units just 100 feet away, officials said.

But quick response by firefighters to the 8:45 a.m. blaze and the sudden calming of the winds when firefighters began to douse the flames prevented worse damage, said Anaheim Division Chief Steve Magliocco.

Dozens of residents evacuated as the flames bore down on their homes.
 

"It really scared us," said Laura Rossman, who watched from her balcony as the flames advanced toward the inhabited homes. "It went up like that. Nothing to it. It was unbelievable."

Nelson Chung, owner of the complex, estimated damage at $2 million to $3 million, including the 20 condominiums that were under construction and the others damaged by flames, heat, smoke and water. Fire officials said a preliminary estimate of the total damage was more than $2 million.

Heavy columns of black smoke and flames were visible for some distance, raising fears for many people all to familiar with the devastation of last month's wildfires in another section of Anaheim Hills and Laguna Beach. Heat from the fire was intense enough to bend steel frames on the units under the construction.

Fire officials concluded that the blaze was set accidentally after questioning the unidentified plumber, who told them he was working at the construction site about 8:45 a.m. when his soldering tool ignited "combustible materials." Magliocco said. Fire officials said hot residue from the soldering chips, which ignited, and then got down into a wall. The plumber tried but failed to extinguish the flames, they said. The visibly distraught plumber, who remained at the site with his wife throughout the morning refused to answer a reporters questions.