LAFD Spares Eight Businesses in Van Nuys Fire
Fast, well coordinated teamwork by firefighters spared eight businesses from harm Friday night in the central San Fernando Valley, when a greater alarm fire erupted in a long, narrow multi-tenant commercial building.
The fire was reported to the Los Angeles Fire Department at 7:22 PM on December 18, 2020, bringing the first of nearly one hundred firefighters to 7955 Haskell Avenue in northwest Van Nuys, where crews arrived quickly to find heavy smoke showing from the central portion of a long, narrow one-story commercial building that housed eleven businesses.
Forcing entry into one and a later total of four adjoining units in the 25,907 square-foot building to commence an offensive fire attack with handlines, firefighters were met with heavy fire and soon driven back by the roof failure in two units, as the building struggled to support a pair of air conditioning units directly above.
With flames quickly through the roof in the central section of the 63 year-old building, focused defensive operations commenced there, as the offense continued beyond.
Ninety-six firefighters under the command of Assistant Chief Corey Rose confined the fire to four units that housed three separate businesses, extinguishing the flames in just 41 minutes, and sparing eight small businesses from fire damage.
There were no firefighter or civilian injuries.
The cause of the greater alarm blaze remains under active investigation.
Dispatched LAFD Units: AR2 BC10 BC12 BC14 BC15 CM42 E100 E103 E239 E273 E287 E289 E290 E298 E39 E81 E87 E88 E90 EA1 EM15 HR3 PI2 RA100 RA7 RA889 T39 T73 T87 T89 T90 T98 UR88 UR89
