Cat Perishes, Residents Displaced by Valley Village Fire

VALLEY VILLAGE - A blaze that firefighters describe as preventable, took the life of a pet cat and displaced two women from their southeast San Fernando Valley home Saturday morning.

The fire was reported at 8:03 AM on March 30, 2013, bringing the swift response of forty-four Los Angeles Firefighters to 5239 Bellingham Avenue in Valley Village, where they discovered fire in one upstairs room of a two-story residential fourplex.

Informed of a pet feline trapped within the smoke charged unit, LAFD crews doubled an already intense search effort, finding the soot-covered and non-breathing pet not far from the active firefight.


Despite the cat's prompt rescue and a comprehensive resuscitation effort by a trio of Los Angeles Fire Department responders, the animal proved beyond medical help and was declared dead at the scene.

Flames were confined to the well-involved room of fire origin, and extinguished in just 16 minutes. No human injuries were reported. Two women displaced by the blaze were offered timely on-site emergency assistance by Disaster Action Team volunteers from the American Red Cross.

LAFD Battalion Chief Randy Beaty estimated fire damage to the 3,122 square-foot building - which was not equipped with home fire sprinklers, at $200,000 ($100,000 structure & $100,000 contents).

The cause of the fire was determined to be the careless act of leaving a burning candle unattended.

Dispatched Units: E260 E60 T60 RA60 RA860 E102 E289 E89 T89 EM14 BC14 BC10 E76 E278

[ photos ]

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

Follow @LAFD and @LAFDtalk on Twitter and find us on Facebook

Article any source