GARDEN GROVE (CNS/KNX 1070) - Firefighters extinguished a two-alarm fire in a Buddhist temple in Garden Grove this morning, but not before the blaze caused nearly a half-million dollars in damage.
Firefighters responded about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday to the 12200 block of Magnolia Street and found flames coming from the Chua Viet Nam temple, according to Capt. Thahn Nguyen of the Garden Grove Fire Department.
A fire captain at the scene told NBC4 the fire appeared to be accidental.
It turns out that an altar candle started the fire overnight that destroyed a Buddhist temple.
The lighted candle was on the porch of the building on Magnolia Street.
Garden Grove fire captain Than Nguyen tells KNX the fire broke out shortly before midnight.
"Two adult women who were inside, they said they were woken up by a fire alarm. At the same time, they also had a neighbor who tried to wake them up from the outside," he said.
A religious leader who was asleep inside a garage converted to a living area was alerted to the fire by a neighbor, NBC4 reported.
"The neighbor came and knocked on the door and they said `fire,' and when she (the religious leader) woke up, the fire was inside," Mike Nguyen, a temple member, told NBC4.
It took 32 firefighters 32 minutes to get the fire under control, Nguyen said.
Damage was estimated at $450,000.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation.