Firefighters

A former Newport Beach firefighter has sued the city in Orange County Superior Court, alleging racial discrimination during his probationary employment period. Christian Benard, 37, who is of Nicaraguan heritage, started in the city's probationary firefighting class in March 2009. He alleges that during his 10-month stint he was not given proper medical aid training and was unfairly criticized by captains at Fire Station No. 7 in Santa Ana Heights. Benard asserts in court papers that immediately after he was assigned to the station, he noticed that he was treated differently than firefighters in his class who were not Latino, and that he sought his own medical aid training when it wasn't provided.

Newport Beach firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze at a Balboa Peninsula home Sunday night, saving most of the home's interior. Twenty-foot flames originally trapped neighbors of the Clubhouse Avenue home, but firefighters evacuated them. No injuries were reported. The blaze apparently started in a wall near the home's fireplace, according to a news release by the Newport Beach Fire Department. Residents called 911 about 9 p.m. after their power shut off and they noticed bubbling in the walls near the fireplace, according to firefighters.

Newport Beach firefighters extinguished a fire Friday morning that had fully engulfed a motor home, authorities said. The 27-foot rig was ablaze when firefighters arrived at the scene on Southwest Cypress Street in Santa Ana Heights about 9:22 a.m. Initial reports said horses in a nearby corral were endangered by the fire. Firefighters found one horse in a corral at the rear of the property, but the animal escaped uninjured and was moved by neighbors, the Newport Beach Fire Department said.

COSTA MESA — A firefighter was burned and a family temporarily displaced after smoke and flames engulfed a garage early Monday. Costa Mesa firefighters responded to the blaze at the 3000 block of Warren Lane about 1:11 a.m. The first to arrive on the scene found fire and smoke breaking through the roof of the home's garage. It took 20 firefighters 20 minutes to extinguish the flames, which also did some damage to an attic. One firefighter suffered burns to his hand and was treated at a local hospital.

Warm holiday weather drew crowds to Newport Beach, leading to an increase in emergency calls for lifeguards and firefighters. About 201,000 people visited the beach between Dec. 24 and Monday. Lifeguards responded to 31 first-aid calls and took preventive measures, such as diverting swimmers from riptides, which kept 172 incidents from escalating to rescues. The warm temperatures — reaching into the 80s over New Year's weekend — and decent swells were the likely cause for the throngs of revelers at Newport Beach's shoreline, said Newport Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz.

Contracts between Newport Beach and the city's public safety unions are set to expire Saturday, and officials said they have not yet agreed on how much workers' retirement benefits should be scaled back. Newport Beach police, firefighters and lifeguards will continue to operate under their existing contracts until a deal is brokered in 2012. The delay in negotiations shows the difficulty in reforming public employee pensions, a priority established by the City Council in recent years.

Two weeks ago, as I was riding back to the firehouse from an emergency response call, a man pulled up on the passenger side of the truck, signaling me to roll down my window. When I did, he delivered the international symbol of ultimate displeasure, shouted "Greedy union firefighters!" and sped off. It's probably worth noting that all of this occurred across from City Hall, a source these days of misinformation that creates the sort of hostility that has otherwise decent people outraged by the appearance of firefighters.

Three Newport Beach firefighters injured while battling a fire in a decorative chimney facade have been released from the hospital, authorities said Tuesday. Firefighters responded to a fire in Big Canyon on Rue Deauville about 7:39 p.m. Monday, the Newport Beach Fire Department said in a news release. Firefighters tried to put out the blaze as it moved to the walls and attic outside the chimney case. They ventilated the roof to help extinguish the blaze. The fire was put out in about 20 minutes, the release said.

Newport Beach firefighters responded to 20 emergency calls Sunday, including a multivehicle collision and residential fires. Firefighters went to a crash about 3:46 p.m. Sunday on Jamboree Road involving multiple vehicles, according to a news release from the Newport Beach Fire Department. One person was transported to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, although the patient's condition was unknown as of Monday. A smoking oven about 30 minutes later sent firefighters to Balboa Island, where an apartment in the 300 block of Marine Avenue was filled with smoke, according to the release.

I wanted to set the record straight on the city of Costa Mesa's labor negotiations with the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. about how much, if any, our firefighters should pay toward their own pensions ("Contract talks disputed," Nov. 17) . There have been some inaccuracies in the media and elsewhere, and I thought it was important Costa Mesa taxpayers know exactly what's happening. Little more than year ago, the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. renegotiated its contract with the city.