Fire starts in motel’s laundry room
A light fixture malfunctioned in a laundry room at the Best Western hotel on Newport Boulevard, causing an electrical fire Monday morning, authorities said.
The Costa Mesa Fire Department arrived on the scene at 9:43 a.m. and had the blaze under control within 10 minutes, according to a news release.
Fire personnel reported heavy smoke in the second-floor hallway of the three-story hotel, and authorities determined that the fire originated in the second-story laundry room.
Forty rooms in the 98-room hotel were occupied at the time of the fire. The 53 people in the hotel were evacuated and accounted for. No injuries were reported.
Repairs to the property are expected to cost $30,000.
— Hannah Fry