8 Injured in Los Angeles High-Rise Apartment Fire

The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
January 29, 2020US News
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8 Injured in Los Angeles High-Rise Apartment Fire
Black smoke billows from the fire at a Los Angeles apartment building on Jan. 29, 2020. (KCAL via CNN)

Los Angeles firefighters rescued 15 terrified residents from the rooftop of a high-rise apartment building where a windswept fire broke out on the sixth floor and sent choking smoke through the upper levels Wednesday. Eight people were injured, including two critically injured, authorities said.

The flames broke out in one of the buildings at the Barrington Plaza complex. Smoke billowed through fire doors into stairwells crowded with panicked neighbors scrambling to get down and firefighters running up, said Dalia Kingsbury, who evacuated from her apartment on the 16th floor of the 25-story building.

“We didn’t know if the fire was going to come out of the door,” she said. “We thought, ‘It’s going to explode.’”

There were early reports that some people had jumped from the building, but officials later said that wasn’t true.

During the rooftop evacuation, a rescuer helped attach each person to a line and they were hoisted into a hovering helicopter one by one. At one point, firefighters lifted a small white dog into the copter.

Los Angele high rise fire
A helicopter flies over a residential building that is on fire in Los Angeles, on Jan. 29, 2020. (Megan Feldman via AP)

“We have rarely done rooftop evacuations for medical purposes. Rarely,” Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said, adding that the strategy was “very effective.”

Deputy Fire Chief Armando Hogan said the fire was put out about 90 minutes after firefighters responded. Six people were taken to hospitals, mostly for smoke inhalation, officials said. Two of them were in critical condition. Two others were treated at the scene.

A 3-month-old baby was among eight people injured and is being treated.

Kingsbury and her roommate Puja Oza got calls and texts from friends about the fire before they heard smoke alarms around 8:45 a.m. Still wearing pajamas, they ran with their golden retriever, Seymour, to the stairs, which were slick with water from fire hoses.

“I was shaking the whole time,” Kingsbury said.

Hogan said the cause of the fire is under investigation, with firefighters looking into the possibility it was deliberately set.

“Arson is on the scene doing an investigation,” he said.

Terrazas added, “It is suspicious right now.”

Hogan said one man was hanging onto the edge of the building contemplating jumping when firefighters managed to reach him and talk him out of it, then pull him to safety.

Once Oza and Kingsbury reached safety, the roommates glanced up and saw the man on the edge just before he was rescued.

“He was literally like Spider-Man,” Oza said.

Fire and smoke damage
Fire and smoke damage is seen on the exterior of a residential building in Los Angeles, on Jan. 29, 2020. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

With the flames doused, firefighters were going through the building to check on occupants.

“Right now, we’re doing a floor-to-floor search to make sure people are OK,” Hogan said.

Authorities said alert firefighters wrapping up a blaze at an office building several blocks away spotted the flames on a balcony of the residential tower, allowing a quick response by more than 300 firefighters.

Resident Gavyn Straus, clad only in swim shorts and a towel, said he was in the swimming pool when he looked up and saw smoke, ran into the building to alert a woman working at the front desk but found she was already calling 911.

Straus said he and a maintenance worker took an elevator to the eighth floor, where they believed the fire was. They then went down to the seventh floor where they opened a door and thick, black smoke came out. Straus said someone came running out covered in soot.

Fire Officials Ask for Video

Arson investigators are working with LAPD, talking to witnesses, and inspecting burn patterns to determine what caused the fire.

“We are going to determine if there was a crime or not,” LAPD Deputy Chief Justin Eisenberg said. He is asking witnesses that may have video to come forward so it can be reviewed.

There is no indication this blaze is related to an earlier one nearby, Eisenberg said. The fire is deemed suspicious due to its size and because there were injuries.

In a rare aerial rescue, multiple helicopters hoisted people from the roof of the building. Those victims were taken to a nearby VA hospital, LAFD Capt. Erik Scott said.

Windows were blown out of the building and wind gusts of 30 to 35 mph created another obstacle for firefighters.

A fire also occurred at the Barrington Plaza high-rise in 2013, injuring several people and displacing more than 100. The complex has 240 units.

Fire officials said then that the building was not equipped with a sprinkler system. It was built in 1961 and wasn’t required to have one under state regulations that passed later and said buildings taller than 75 feet include such fire-suppression systems unless granted an exemption.

A phone call and email seeking comment from Barrington Plaza’s owners were not immediately returned Wednesday.

By Stefanie Dazio and Brian Melley

The CNN Wire contributed to this report

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