By Judy O’Rourke
The Daily News of Los Angeles
Copyright 2007 Tower Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
CANYON COUNTRY, Calif. — Two condominium units were destroyed and a firefighter injured by a spectacular fire Wednesday that sent flames shooting 50 feet into the air.
Investigators were trying to determine what started the fire, which was reported about 1 p.m. in the 448-unit American Beauty Village complex in the 26000 block of Claudette Street.
“It was surreal! The whole top unit was literally 50-foot flames shooting straight into the sky like a Bunsen burner!” said Dean Anthony, 33, who was painting in the garage of a neighboring unit before he went upstairs for a glass of water and spotted the fire. “It was an inferno.”
Scores of firefighters labored roughly 40 minutes before extinguishing flames that engulfed two corner units in the eight-unit wood-frame building.
Condos next door to the blackened units suffered heavy smoke and water damage, officials said.
One unidentified firefighter sustained first- and second-degree burns to his ears and neck. He was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, said Battalion Chief David Richardson.
About 15 Los Angeles County Fire Department engines converged on the scene, including one from Palmdale and two from Lancaster.
Some witnesses said they heard explosions, but Anthony surmised that the popping sounds came from the wood and vinyl structure collapsing and windows blowing out.
Janet DeLorenzo, 53, was preparing food for her grandchildren when she heard banging, which she thought was Callista, 3, pounding on a dresser. After spotting flames shooting from the building, DeLorenzo grabbed Callista and Cameron, 9 months, and her daughter Amanda, 19, grabbed the family’s Siamese cat.
“You grab them and you run,” DeLorenzo said while standing under the shade of a tree.
Tenants in the gutted upstairs unit, who recently moved in, declined to talk with a reporter.
Debra Turner, 48, who has owned the blackened lower unit for 16 years, was tearful as friends and family tried to comfort her. She raced home from her job in the Antelope Valley after getting a call from Amanda Junco, 20, who was cleaning her home.
“I heard banging, the windows breaking,” said Junco, who called 911. Junco tried to rescue Turner’s cat but could not. Firefighters rescued Lucy, 12.
“Amanda called and said `Your house is on fire!” Turner said. Among her prized belongings turned to ash are two turn-of-the-century reproduction furniture pieces and a 17th-century chest, given her by her sons, she said. One thing Turner hasn’t lost is her sense of humor. “I have been waiting 16 years to do home improvements,” she said. “I (just) had the ceiling scraped and smoothed two days ago -- and I’m going to ask for a refund because it doesn’t look that good anymore.”