Koreatown Apartment Fire Triggers Roof Collapse
- Los Angeles firefighters battled a two-story Koreatown apartment blaze Tuesday morning after flames spread through the attic and triggered a partial roof collapse. - The Los Angeles Fire Department sent 93 personnel to James M. Wood Boulevard; 18 people were displaced, with no injuries reported. - Three of eight units were red-tagged after the fire, while investigators examined the cause and aid groups helped residents. (cbsnews.com)
A fire tore through a Koreatown apartment building Tuesday morning, and part of the roof collapsed as Los Angeles firefighters worked to stop it. (lafd.org) (ktla.com) The Los Angeles Fire Department said crews were dispatched at 7:22 a.m. on April 28 to the 3000 block of James M. Wood Boulevard, where Engine 13 found heavy smoke coming from the attic of a two-story, garden-style apartment building. (lafd.org) Firefighters began an interior attack while roof crews cut ventilation holes, then called emergency traffic at about 7:36 a.m. after finding a compromised roof and a partial collapse. (lafd.org) Crews kept working from a safer section of the roof, cleared the building in a primary search, and extinguished the fire by 8:20 a.m., according to the Fire Department and KTLA. (lafd.org) (ktla.com) The fire displaced 18 people across two affected buildings, and the American Red Cross was called in to help residents who could not return home. No injuries were reported. (lafd.org) (ktla.com) CBS Los Angeles reported that the building had eight units, with three red-tagged and five yellow-tagged after the blaze, leaving residents waiting on inspections and housing decisions. (cbsnews.com) One resident, Rini Crofts, told CBS Los Angeles that water poured through her first-floor unit, bubbling paint and raising fears that the ceiling could give way. (cbsnews.com) LAFD Battalion Chief Brian Franco told CBS Los Angeles that firefighters on the roof felt the structure change beneath them and backed away before conditions worsened. (cbsnews.com) CBS Los Angeles also reported that firefighters had responded to the address around 5:30 a.m. for a tree fire, then returned about two hours later after the roof caught fire. The cause of the apartment blaze remains under investigation. (cbsnews.com) City agencies including Los Angeles Building and Safety, the Department of Water and Power, Southern California Gas Company and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation were notified as the block around James M. Wood Boulevard and Irolo Street was shut down. (lafd.org) (ktla.com) By Tuesday evening, the fire was out, the searches were complete, and displaced families were left to sort through damaged units while investigators worked to determine how the blaze started. (lafd.org) (cbsnews.com)
