Firefighters quickly arrived to a 21-story residential highrise to find fire blowing out of one unit on the 20th floor. Occupants had already began to properly evacuate the 480 unit building in an orderly fashion.
In accordance with the LAFD's well-established High-Rise Incident Command System, Firefighters secured the lobby, fire control room, stairwells and established a liaison with on site staff of 44 year-old building. With detailed knowledge of the structure gained during fire prevention and tactical pre-plan inspections, Firefighters carrying as much as 100 pounds of equipment each began the strenuous task of climbing 20 flights of stairs. With support teams readily staged on the floors below them, Firefighters assigned to fire attack aggressively assaulted the fire with handlines, confining the flames to the non-sprinklered unit of origin before it spread. Also Fire Department helicopters were staffed remotely as 'Airborne Engine Companies'.
A total of 141 Firefighters assisted in fully extinguishing the blaze in just 23 minutes and performed a detailed search through this contemporary styled structure. There were no injuries to Firefighters, however three adult female civilians suffered non-life threatening injuries, two of which required transportation to local hospitals.
Following extinguishment, dozens of Firefighters worked for several hours assisting building officials with salvage operations and water removal from the 18th through 20th floors. Dollar-loss from the blaze is being tabulated and the cause is under investigation.
Submitted by Erik Scott, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department
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