3-Alarm Fire Damages Several Homes In Garden Grove

GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA.com) — Three Orange County homes were damaged and a firefighter suffered minor injuries in a three-alarm fire, officials said Friday.

The fire was reported just after 10 p.m. Thursday in the 14400 block of Flower Street and was under control about three hours later, the Garden Grove Fire Department said.

The fire appears to have started in the backyard of one of the homes and quickly spread to the three structures. The fire also damaged an RV garage and caused several small explosions.

"Large amount of construction materials, several tanks that were igniting and exploding, a lot of freon coming out of air conditioning units," said Capt. Jim Gabbard.

Two of the homes were vacant at the time of the fire, but 12 people in a third residence were evacuated.

Officials said fighting the fire was difficult due to packrat conditions in one of the structures.

"It was a very stubborn fire, we actually had to use a back hoe from the city and pull out all the debris and if we didn't have that we would be here for hours," Capt. Gabbard added.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. A damage estimate was not available.