On Friday, April 11, at 10:34 PM, 8 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 2 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 1 Arson Unit, 1 Hazardous Materials Team, 1 EMS Battalion Captain, 3 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team, DWP, DOT and LAPD, all under the direction of Battalion Chief James Cairns, responded to the Greater Alarm Structure Fire located at 15222 W. Stagg St. in the Van Nuys area.
A 9-1-1 cell phone caller driving through the intersection notified the OCD Dispatch Center that a large warehouse was “full of fire.” Responding LAFD resources communicated that there was indeed a very large loom up. The first arriving Light Force on scene found a large one story, 60 foot by 150 foot commercial warehouse building, showing heavy smoke and fire through the roof. Additional companies were requested. The commercial building housed three very large occupancies.
Companies quickly initiated the placement of handlines while their roof top complement’s strong ventilation efforts, held the fire to the center occupancy, a furniture refinishing business. Division walls, focused interior firefighting and excellent truck work kept damage to the auto body shop and the movie prop storage to a minimum.
Sixty Firefighters took approximately 27 minutes to bring the late night blaze to a knockdown. No injuries were reported. The cause was determined to be refinishing materials that self combusted. The dollar loss estimate is undetermined at this time.