On Tuesday, August 8, 2006 at 10:34 a.m., 13 companies of Los Angeles firefighters, four LAFD rescue ambulances, one arson unit, two urban search and rescue units, one hazardous materials squad, three EMS battalion captains, five battalion chief officer command teams and one division chief officer command team, under the direction of Assistant Chief Michael Fulmis responded to a Greater Alarm Structure Fire at 5741 Carlton Way in Hollywood.
Firefighters arrived quickly to find heavy fire showing from one unit on the top floor of a 36,710 square-foot three-story apartment building.
Using handlines, firefighters mounted a brisk offense against well-entrenched flames within the one unit, confining the fire to a bedroom and extinguishing blaze in just fourteen minutes.
As the fire was completely extinguished and property salvage efforts continued, firefighters identified two residents and a dog who had escaped the blaze. Suffering mild to moderate effects from smoke and heat exposure, the 67 year-old man and his 23 year-old daughter adamantly declined treatment and hospital transport.
While the father and daughter arranged care for their pet dog which had sustained a minor burn injury, it became the painful task of firefighters to advise them that their pet cat had succumbed to the flames.
There were no other injuries reported.
The presence or functional status of smoke alarms within the involved unit at the time of the fire could not be immediately determined. The apartment was not equipped with fire sprinklers.
Because their apartment was temporarily untenable, the man and woman were referred to the American Red Cross for placement assistance.
Monetary loss from the fire is estimated at $40,000 ($30,000 structure & $10,000 contents).
The cause of this late-morning blaze is categorized as accidental and attributed to carelessness with a candle.
This fire comes less than three weeks following the U.S. Fire Administration’s formal release of an official report highlighting the fact that nationwide on an annual basis, candles are responsible for an estimated 23,600 residential structure fires, cause 1,525 civilian injuries, 165 fatalities and $390 million in direct property loss.
That USFA report can be found at: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v6i1.pdf