Deadly Garden Apartment Fire Los Angeles, California May 3, 1993 A late afternoon fire in a Los Angeles apartment building claimed the lives of 10 residents and the death toll is expected to go higher. The victims included two women, one of whom was pregnant and near full-term, and six children. The fire was the worst loss of life in a single fire since the 1982 fire in the Dorothy Mae apartments in Chinatown which claimed 25 lives. Fire department officials indicate that 22 people were transported to area hospitals and 20 victims were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and injuries sustained jumping from upper floors to escape the fire. No firefighters were injured battling the blaze. Fire investigators have ruled out all accidental causes for the fire which they are calling suspicious. The Acting Fire Marshal, Assistant Chief Michael Ambarian, indicated that the fire started in the second floor corridor on the west side of the 3-story building. The Associated Press reported that officials are investigating the possibility that the fire was started by tenants who were evicted earlier in the day due to suspicion they were dealing in drugs. The fire was discovered by a second floor resident who smelled smoke in the corridor. When he opened the door to investigate, the male occupant encountered heavy fire and fled with his family out the window onto a balcony and down into the courtyard of the garden-style complex. Unable to close the door, which was not equipped with an automatic closer, the fire spread into the family's apartment and vented out the window behind them. Firefighters received the alarm for 330 South Burlington Avenue in Westlake at 4:34 p.m. PDT. The first call reporting the fire came from a building occupant who called 911. When Light Force 9 arrived on the scene, they found heavy smoke showing from the courtyard in the center of the building complex. Upon investigation, they found fire venting from a second floor window in the courtyard. By then several occupants were trying to escape from the upper floors over balconies and by jumping from windows. Neighbors formed human chains to retrieve trapped occupants from balconies while others caught small children dropped to safety by anxious relatives. Some occupants descended from windows and balconies using bed sheets. A total of more than 100 firefighters staffing 23 companies responded to the alarm. The fire was controlled in under 2 hours. Firefighters tried in vain to revive a number of occupants, mostly small children, rescued from the burning building. Firefighters found all of the victims in a third floor corridor. Many of the bodies were stacked one upon another. Rescue workers and bystanders performed CPR on the sidewalk as more than one hundred onlookers and news cameras watched. The dead include a young mother and her unborn near-full-term fetus. The woman's 4-year-old son was also killed. The other victims included another woman and her five children, ranging in age from 6 to 11 years of age, and a 15-year-old girl. Of those injured and transported to area hospitals, 4 people were listed in critical condition after the fire. Two have since died, including a woman who went into labor at the scene while being treated for smoke inhalation. Her baby was delivered by Caesarian section and is reported in stable condition at a local hospital. The near-full-term fetus of a third pregnant woman currently on life support systems at another hospital has reportedly died. Early news reports indicated that a number of the victims transported to hospitals had suffered heart attacks. The building where the fire occurred was a 40-unit, 3-story, ordinary construction building constructed in 1985. The building had a box "O" plan which surrounded a central courtyard. Enclosed interior stairways were located in the northwest and southeast corners of the building. Exit access corridors provided access to both stairways from all appartments. Fire barrier doors were installed in the corridors to prevent both stairways from becoming inaccessible in the event of a fire. The building was equipped with a manual fire alarm system and hardwired smoke detectors were installed in the apartments. The building had no automatic sprinkler system. Although the performance of the smoke detectors has not been determined, Chief Ambarian reported that the sound of a fire alarm signal could be heard in the background of a tape recording of the 911 emergency call reporting the fire. L.A. fire officials indicate that the corridor and stairway fire-rated doors were propped or nailed open for ventilation at the time of the fire allowing smoke to spread rapidly and cutoff access to exits. At least 16 apartments were damaged by the fire. An incendiary fire earlier this month damaged two other apartments. During the investigation of that fire, officials found that smoke detectors were not working and that fire doors were propped open or missing in violation of the city fire code. The Associated Press reported that the assistant building manager has confirmed that smoke detectors were not working at the time of the fire and that the building owner was made aware of the defect after the earlier fire but claimed they were too expensive to repair. Most of the occupants of the complex were Central American immigrants. A Red Cross shelter established at a nearby high school provided overnight shelter for 123 residents of the complex. Some of the information in this report was obtained from copyright stories by AP, UPI and Reuters wire services reporters and the Los Angeles Times. Fire Department Contacts: Assistant Chief Michael Ambarian, Acting Fire Marshal Inspector Phil Wiereter, Public Information Officer Los Angeles Fire Department 200 North Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 485-6000 Submitted by: Mark Chubb