At Least 2 Hurt In Massive South LA Apartment Fire That Led To Evacuations Of Neighboring Buildings
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Victims of a massive South Los Angeles apartment fire early Saturday morning say they're suffering losses upon losses.
Among the 100 displaced from their homes are people who've lost jobs due to the coronavirus, people with families, the elderly and people with disabilities.
At least two people were injured in the fire at the nearly 100-year-old apartment building.
The fire erupted just after 3 a.m. at the building in the 4000 block of South Main Street and continued to burn for about five more hours.
All 24 apartment units were evacuated along with the evacuation of four adjacent buildings.
"Usually we see something like this on TV and people lose everything," said resident Loneisha Pogues. "I have never had nothing like this happen to me where I just lost everything out of nowhere."
Captain Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department said he expects the building will be red-tagged. The captain said the fire started in the basement before quickly spreading through the walls to the attic.
"[The smoke] was thick. You couldn't see anything but the smoke," said resident Lyndon Jernigan.
More than 100 firefighters doused the building with water for five hours but the structure continued to burn, forcing officials who feared for its collapse to call for bulldozers to take down the entire structure.
Of the injured, one person suffered severe smoke inhalation, and another person was injured but declined to go to the hospital.
The American Red Cross is offering hotel rooms for the weekend to the people displaced by the fire but residents are concerned about they'll recover in the long-term from this devastating loss.
