Crime & Safety
Year Gets Off to A Blazing Start With Mountain of Trash
A CR&R garbage truck dumps its burning load in the Monte Vista Park parking lot.
No one can say that 2012 didn't get off to a blazing start, not that CR&R wanted anything to do with it.
The company that picks up trash for Rancho Santa Margarita and other south Orange County cities had Monday's hottest ride. A driver heard a loud pop and then noticed some smoke inside the truck's holding bay. According to standard procedure, he dumped the load in the nearest safest location.
That place just happened to be in the parking lot at Monte Vista Park, just feet away from the swimming pool at the community center.
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Residents in the nearby Belflora condominiums said they heard the loud pop too, and it sounded "like an explosion," about two minutes before a couple of fire engines from Station 45 arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Afterward, foam covered the parking lot like a new year snow.
Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
According to Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Marc Stone, the cause of the blaze is unknown.
The mountain of trash rose about five feet in the parking lot, and was about half a load for the truck.
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