Electrical short, spark suspected in garage fire

A spark or short in electrical wiring likely caused a small blaze in a Costa Mesa storage garage Friday morning, fire officials said.

Firefighters were called to Bay Storage, 1652 Newport Blvd., about 9:15 a.m. after the manager saw smoke near a storage unit, Battalion Chief Scott Broussard said.

Firefighters cut open the garage’s door to find smoldering items and small flames, officials said. They put the fire out within 15 minutes. Firefighters cut open three adjacent garages to make sure the blaze hadn’t spread, Broussard said.

Investigators continued to try to track down the unit’s renter Friday afternoon, hoping he could shed light on the last time he had been in the garage and to see if it could help explain the fire, Broussard said.

There was no damage to the structure or neighboring garages, officials said.

— Joseph Serna