4-Alarm Fire Guts Vacant Bowling Alley

The dusk sky over Santa Ana was darkened prematurely by billowing black smoke Thursday as 45 firefighters battled for an hour to contain a four-alarm fire in a vacant bowling alley in a Bristol Street shopping center.

Santa Ana firefighters said the blaze, which gutted Santana Lanes at 2445 Bristol St., was the city’s largest since the fire that damaged the Pioneer Town shopping center on 17th Street last July and injured three firefighters.

The fire was confined to the bowling alley, and no one was injured, said Capt. John Chambers, Santa Ana Fire Department public information officer.

“Arson investigators are on the scene, but they have no conclusions about the origin of the fire,” he said.

911 System Used

Chambers said the fire was reported through the county 911 emergency system at about 6:15 p.m. Engine companies were called from Santa Ana, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and the Orange County Fire Department, and the blaze was under control by about 7:30 p.m., he said. Investigators had no immediate estimate of the monetary loss.

Although the bowling alley was situated in the Bristol & Warner Center, the burning building was adjacent to only one business, a Security Pacific National Bank branch. Fire officials credited the firefighters’ quick response with saving the bank.

“We got a lot of quick manpower, right away,” one fire official said. “They share a wall, but our guys went inside the bank, and the wall is cool. I think we’ll get out of here a lot better than (after the) 17th Street (blaze).”

Barbara Cartwright, assistant manager of the bank, was driving north on Bristol when she spotted smoke pouring from the shopping center and her car got stuck in the knot of traffic surrounding the fire.

Bank Not Hot

“I just went inside the bank, and it wasn’t hot in there,” Cartwright said later, surveying the water-drenched scene. “So we’re OK. We’ll be open for business Friday. But this has probably messed up our automatic teller, and that’s the real crime. It’s our best feature.”

Traffic on Bristol was congested for about an hour as the blaze flickered brightly against the night sky. Santa Ana police blocked the street off at Segerstrom, Central and Warner avenues, and hundreds of spectators--on foot, skateboards and bicycles--ringed the shopping center.

The main casualty of the fire was business for the small shops and restaurants nearby. The drive-through window at an El Pollo Loco was blocked by fire engines, and the restaurant was practically empty. And the manager of a Foto Hut was stuck there because his small store was ringed by police lines holding back the milling crowds.