The Region - News from Nov. 28, 1986

A five-alarm fire demolished a Huntington Beach senior citizens’ housing complex construction site, causing more than $1.5 million in damage and threatening an occupied apartment complex for the elderly and an emergency hospital. Flames towered higher than the adjacent 14-story Wycliffe Gardens senior citizens’ complex, where residents were evacuated into the downstairs lobby until the danger had passed. No injuries were reported. Huntington Beach Fire Chief Ray Picard said the fire’s cause was “suspicious” because a van was seen leaving the construction site shortly before the flames were reported.