“At 6:25 this morning, we received numerous calls for a car fire at 12200 Montecito Road, in the City of Seal Beach,” Orange County Fire Captain Marc Stone told OC180NEWS. “When we pulled up, we had two fully involved vehicles underneath the carport.”

When the crew realized there was a structure involved, they called for additional equipment.

“We had a total of about 25 firefighters on scene,” Stone said. “There were ten cars exposed, of which five or six were damaged.”

According to Captain Stone, the total loss was $300,000. The total damage to the cars, both the five damaged cars and the 4 that were destroyed, plus their contents, was estimated at $250,000. Stone put the value of the damage to the carport at $50,000. The carport was not attached to the condos so there was no other structure damage.

Stone said the investigators identified a malfunction in an electric switch in an F-150 Ford pickup, which is where the fire started. The fire then spread to the other cars. Stone indicated arson was ruled out as a cause.