Fire threatens assisted-living facility

A fire Tuesday afternoon at an assisted-living facility forced the evacuation of most of its patients, including many with Alzheimer's disease, but no one was hurt in the blaze.

At 4:13 p.m., an automatic fire alarm sent Newport Beach firefighters to Avalon at Newport, an assisted-living facility and Alzheimer's community across the street from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, fire officials said.

Avalon workers helped about 50 of the 80 seniors in the facility out of the building, fire officials said. The rest stayed in a safe wing of the building.

The sprinkler system had the blaze under control by the time firefighters discovered it in the ventilation above a resident's bathroom, and they only took 10 minutes to knock it down, a Newport Beach Fire Department spokeswoman said. Even so, the tricky location meant extra caution was needed.

Newport Beach Fire Chief Steve Lewis said it was a great response to a situation with real potential for danger.

"We practice and practice for these situations," he said. "A facility like this can be a real challenge — there's people incapacitated, and many of them have Alzheimer's. The company that runs this place did a great job helping us out."

— Michael Alexander