Apartment was empty during blaze

NEWPORT BEACH — The cause of a two-alarm fire in a Newport Beach apartment complex is still under investigation after flames and smoke plumed from a unit that no one was in Thursday night.

The fire started at about 5:42 p.m. in a Palm Mesa apartment, at 1561 Mesa Drive. Neighbors fought the blaze until firefighters arrived. They extinguished the fire at 6:20 p.m.

Residents said they saw black smoke pluming from the front and rear of the apartment, the heat so intense that its windows shattered.

No one was inside at the time, fire department officials said. Fire trucks from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and the Orange County Fire Authority responded to the blaze. There were no reported injuries.

Joseph Serna