LOS ANGELES — On Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 1:33 a.m., four Companies of Los Angeles firefighters, two LAFD rescue ambulances, two arson investigation units, one EMS battalion captain and one battalion chief officer command team under the direction of Battalion Chief Michael Arguelles responded to a civilian fatality structure fire at 3916 South La Salle Avenue in the Exposition Park/Coliseum Area.
Firefighters arrived quickly to be confronted with heavy fire from a detached garage to the rear of an apartment building, with flames extending to a pair of residential structures nearby. Firefighters briskly extended handlines to skillfully extinguish the blaze in less than eleven minutes.
Though Firefighters were able to severely limit damage to homes immediately to the south and east, the garage was largely consumed by flames. During their exhaustive search of the burnt building, firefighters disassembling the panelized garage door found the remains of an approximately sixty year-old male within the vehicle-free space.
According to witnesses, the homeless man, known only vaguely in the neighborhood, had been given permission to sleep within the structure as needed. No evidence of a smoke alarm or fire sprinklers were discovered in the structure, which was neither heavily furnished nor modified for residency. There were no security bars or other obvious impairments to egress.
According to veteran LAFD Battalion Chief Michael Arguelles “Though a smoke alarm would not normally be expected in such a structure, one was very much needed” adding “Wherever you sleep, even briefly, you need the silent sentinel of a smoke alarm to protect you.”
Monetary loss from the blaze is estimated at $60,000 ($40,000 structure & $20,000 contents). The fire’s cause remains under active investigation. A positive identification of the deceased, as well as the exact cause, time and manner of his death will be determined by coroner’s officials.