Officials contain, investigate fire on 16th Street

The Newport Beach Fire Department is investigating a fire that broke out on an industrial stretch of West 16th Street on Saturday afternoon.

The fire, which started shortly before 5 p.m. at 845 W. 16th St., prompted calls to both the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach fire departments due to its location by the city border.

Costa Mesa firefighters arrived first on the scene and put out the blaze, which Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Kirk Dominic said occurred in a storage area between two buildings, within a few minutes. No one was injured, and there was no structural damage reported.

“There was a lot of smoke and fire showing when we got there,” Dominic said. “It looked a lot worse than it turned out to be.”

The responders blocked off West 16th Street between Monrovia and Placentia avenues to traffic for around 40 minutes. A spokeswoman said afterward that the Newport Beach Fire Department was investigating the cause of the fire.

— Michael Miller