LAFD Battles Major Emergency Fire in South LA Church
Monday, March 28, 2016
LAFD Spokesperson: Erik Scott
A roof collapsed while Los Angeles Firefighters battled a Major Emergency Structure fire in a South Los Angeles church building (predominately classrooms, and offices).
At 5:15 AM, on March 28, 2016, the LAFD responded to 8401 S Hoover Street in the Vermont Knolls area of South Los Angeles to find a large two-story church building with fire showing and reports that people were trapped inside. Additional resources were quickly requested.Firefighters forced entry into the Greater Bethany EDC building and an aggressive interior attack ensued, along with coordinated vertical ventilation, and an initial search for persons inside.
During the intense firefight the roof partially collapsed and a "Mayday" was called, due to the possibility of a down, missing, or trapped firefighter. The Incident Commander rapidly requested a Company Accountability Report (CAR), fortunately all firefighters were accounted for and no one suffered injury. Firefighters began a defensive firefight, withdrawing companies from the inside and off the roof, to use large hose streams to pour water onto the blaze from the exterior.
Approximately 125 firefighters, under the command of Assistant Chief Donald Frazeur, extinguished the flames in 1 hour 42 minutes. The fire cause is under active investigation by the LAFD Arson Section. The church building suffered significant damage and the estimated dollar loss and dollars saved is being tabulated. The flames were confined to the structure of origin and did not extend into near by buildings.
It was later determined that the church building was not currently in use, but was occupied by homeless individuals that self exited prior to LAFD arrival.
Dispatched Units: E233 E33 T33 RA33 E264 E64 T64 RA864 BC13 E46 E266 T66 E65 CM22 EM13 BC11 E66 RA264 E221 T21 EM11 BC18 T5 E205 E5 UR5 RA5 HR56 UR88 BC4 RA857 SQ21 E57 RM2 EA1 E26 E94 E215 T15 RA246 RA46 E210 T10 AR1 EM1 E85 E226 T26 E21 E211 T11 BC1 BC5 RM3 AR11 AR10 EM35 CM31 AR17 PH1 BC13 AR14 E57
Updated Video via KTLA: http://bit.ly/21Pxazm
