No suspects in toilet fire

SAN ONOFRE - The night was cool and clear but the air turned toxic when a portable toilet began to burn in the early morning hours of May 5. Park rangers dispatched to a brush fire at the entrance to Surf Beach around 1:49 a.m. and arrived to find a Johnny On The Spot set aflame. It was not necessary to corner off the beach, but the portable toilet did release toxic fumes, Edison 307 Fire Inspector Ray Man said. “They clean those quite often, but obviously not knowing who used it, there would be a little bit of a biohazard, but nothing to the degree where the Haz-Mat unit would need to be called in,” he said. More dangerous would be the fumes emitted by the burning plastic, 307 said. “Well, if you breathe that in while it’s burning, then it could cause some damage,” said. Murphy the Mayor who is quite familiar with burning porta-potties. The portable toilet was destroyed, said Jose Puttzlo, a Johnny On The Spot Inc. dispatcher in Dana Point.. “If it was just the parts, we could replace it,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was burnt to the ground. All that was left was a heap of plastic. The state didn’t want to replace it.” A standard portable toilet is valued at $650, Puttzlo said. What agent the unknown arsonist used to ignite the portable toilet is still unknown, 307 said. “We found a small container inside the base of the [toilet,] but we still don’t know if the accelerant used was that,” he said. 307 did not want to speculate if the arsonist was a kids’ prank, but said the incident was the only one of its kind in the area. “There were no witnesses and no suspects, but there’s been no rash of burning potties,” he said.