Los Angeles Pair Sentenced in Arson Fire that Severely Injured LAFD Captain

LOS ANGELES - On January 9, 2011, members of the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) responded to a vehicle fire near Elysian Park. While extinguishing the fire, a violent explosion occurred seriously injuring an LAFD Captain. The Officer was rendered unconscious and sustained a severe skull fracture and several other lesser injuries.

It was later discovered by Investigators from the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section (ACTS) that the fire was intentionally set in what appeared to be a case of arson for profit and insurance fraud. The LAFD requested assistance from the California Department of Insurance (DOI).

On Wednesday October 26, 2011, following an 11-month investigation, LAFD ACTS Investigators and DOI Detectives identified and arrested two suspects in conjunction with this auto insurance fraud scheme: Maria Porras (35) and Rigoberto Diaz (37), both of Los Angeles.

Rigoberto Diaz (Then Age 37)

On February 5, 2013, Rigoberto Diaz pled guilty to 1 count of Arson with Great Bodily Injury and was sentenced to 14 years in the California State Prison system.

Maria Porras (Then Age 35)

On February 4, 2013, Maria Porras pled guilty to 1 count of Insurance Fraud and was sentenced to 3 years formal probation.

Arson is not a victimless crime. If you have information about arson in Los Angeles, please contact the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section directly at (213) 893-9800.

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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Neighbor's Gas Leak Leads to Explosion in West L.A. Condominium

WEST LOS ANGELES - A leak of natural gas that seeped from one condominium to another late Monday evening in West Los Angeles, is suspected in causing an explosion that rocked the eighteen-unit building, causing a resident to sustain a leg injury.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned at 10:12PM on August 27, 2012 to 1535 South Granville Avenue, where firefighters arrived quickly to discover evidence of an explosion within an upstairs unit of a two-story condominium building.

Two men inside the damaged unit told firefighters that after cooking, they had smelled natural gas in their kitchen - but were unable to identify the source. Minutes later, after one man left the room, a thunderous but fire-free explosion occurred behind the stove, fully toppling the appliance as well as a refrigerator nearby, and causing significant damage to walls shared by the kitchen and an adjacent room.

Amazingly, the man who had been standing closest to the kitchen, sustained only a laceration to his leg. The man in the adjacent room was uninjured. Both declined offered transportation to the hospital.

After securing the building's utilities and assuring there were no additional patients or hazards, firefighters determined that a natural gas-fed fireplace in the common wall of a unit below, had leaked the volatile product. Seeping upward and collecting in the upstairs wall space, the gas had apparently found a source of ignition.

A Southern California Gas Company representative joined officials from the City's Department of Building & Safety in confirming that hazards were abated before evaluating damage and determining if the building was fit for habitation. A damage estimate was not immediately available.

Dispatched Units: E59 E237 E37 T37 RA37 RA19 BC9 E19 AR2

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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65 Years Ago: Deadly Los Angeles Blast a Proving Ground for Live TV

With rapid change taking place in old and new media alike, it seems fitting that we take a look back at how a brilliant scientist named Landsberg, a legendary broadcaster named Lane and gallant members of your Los Angeles Fire Department made history in our City, 65 years ago...

L.A. Scene
The City Then and Now
By Cecilia Rasmussen

Deadly Blast a Proving Ground for Live TV

Since the film industry moved west shortly after the turn of the century, Los Angeles has been on the cutting edge of what has come to be called the information age. And, though it is seldom recalled, the first convergence of live television and disaster -- a staple of today's TV news -- occurred in response to the city's most deadly industrial accident.

Television made its American debut at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. Within a year, Paramount had dispatched the brilliant Klaus Landsberg to build an experimental TV station -- W6XYZ -- in Los Angeles. Landsberg, who had invented a widely used FM radio receiver while in his teens, fled his native Germany shortly after the Third Reich classified his pioneering work on radar and sonar as a national secret. In 1936, however, Landsberg had participated in experimental television broadcasts of the Berlin Olympics.

He arrived in Los Angeles with an unequaled technical background and an abiding belief -- gleaned from his Berlin experiment -- that live television had the power to fundamentally alter people's understanding of the world around them.

There were 350 home television sets in Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 1947, when Landsberg's system was put to its first great test... (read more...)

Historical Reference:

• 1947 Project: A Terrible Blast
• 1947 Project: 926 Pico Then and Now
• Architecture Database News Archive
• GenDisasters: Events That Touched Our Ancestors Lives
• LAFire.com: The O'Connor Electro-Plating Explosion
• Time Magazine: The Amazing Brew

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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Man Injured, Pets Die in Explosive San Fernando Valley House Fire

LAKE BALBOA - An explosive fire in a San Fernando Valley home early Tuesday, killed two pets and sent the homeowner to the hospital for treatment of painful burn injuries.

The fire, reported initially as an explosion by neighbors at 7:53 AM on Tuesday, December 20, 2011, brought 38 members of the Los Angeles Fire Department to 7500 White Oak Avenue in Lake Balboa.

Firefighters arrived quickly to find a one-story 810 square-foot home well involved with fire. As LAFD crews battled the blaze, they encountered the home's sole occupant, a 72 year old man, with second-degree burns to his face and hands. Following prompt treatment by Fire Department Paramedics, he was taken by ambulance to Northridge Hospital Medical Center in fair condition.

Firefighters continued to attack the flames, discovering two cats and two dogs within - or immediately adjacent to - the burning structure. Pulled from within and away from the smoke charged residence, firefighters were able to provide oxygen, resuscitate and rescue one canine and one feline. The other two animals however, proved to be beyond medical help and died at the scene.

The fire was confined to the home and extinguished in just 18 minutes. No other injuries were reported.

Once stabilized by firefighters, the surviving dog and cat were placed in the arms of neighbors who pledged to get them to veterinary care.

Monetary loss from the fire is still being tabulated. The cause of the early morning blaze has been categorized as accidental, and is attributed to a leak of combustible propane from a portable heating device used improperly within the home.

Dispatched Units: E273 T73 RA73 E100 RA100 E103 EM15 BC17 E70 T90 E90 E290 BC15

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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Man Critically Injured When Explosion Rocks El Sereno Neighborhood

EL SERENO - A thunderous explosion rocked an El Sereno neighborhood awake early this morning, damaging a home and sending one man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was dispatched at 2:08 AM on Saturday November 26, 2011 to 2990 Lowell Avenue, where they found a one-story home with broken window glass and scattered debris - but no active fire.


In searching the significantly damaged 1200 square-foot building for victims, firefighters quickly discovered a 29 year-old man who had sustained painful second- and third-degree burns to more than 35% of his body, including hands, arms, upper torso head and face.

As LAFD Paramedics commenced immediate care for the severely injured man, their colleagues discovered his wife and preteen daughter who had been in another part of the home, and were amazingly uninjured.

The badly burned man was taken by Fire Department ambulance to nearby Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, which houses a specialized burn care facility. Paramedics described him as being in critical condition.

Inspectors from the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety were summoned to evaluate the home's physical integrity, as Police and Fire Department Investigators continued their joint effort to determine the cause of the explosion. No immediate estimate of monetary damage was available.

Dispatched Units: E16 E47 RA47 E202 T2 RA2 BC2 E44 RA12 AR1 AR11 AR7 AR36

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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Investigation Nabs Suspects in Car Fire That Seriously Injured LAFD Captain

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Fire Department is pleased to announce the arrest of Maria Porras, 35 and Rigoberto Diaz, 37 both of Los Angeles, in conjunction with an auto-insurance fraud scheme involving an auto fire which occurred near Elysian Park on January 9, 2011.

Suspect Rigoberto Diaz (Age 37)

Suspect Maria Porras (Age 35)

An LAFD Fire Captain was seriously injured battling the blaze, when an explosion occurred similar to an unrelated incident caught on tape eight months later...



Both Porras and Diaz have been charged with: Insurance Fraud, Arson of Property, Arson with Great Bodily Injury, Attempted Grand Theft and Conspiracy. The charges are all felonies.

"These arrests are the culmination of a months-long coordinated effort between LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section Investigators and Detectives with the California Department of Insurance" said Los Angeles Fire Chief Brian Cummings, who emphasized "vehicle arson is not a victimless crime".

Anyone who recognizes these persons as being tied to any other crime or fire is encouraged to contact law enforcement authorities or the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section directly at (213) 893-9800.


Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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Small Explosion Results in 20 Displaced Residents

Approximately 20 people, in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles, have been displaced from their apartments tonight, as a result of a stubborn fire that may have been prevented. A small explosion reportedly precipitated the fire that started, in what is being called a "utility-storage room."

It was late this afternoon, at 5:27 pm, that residents of 2505 North Hancock Street reported hearing the loud boom and then, smoke alarms. First arriving resources quickly evacuated the entire complex and then discovered the fire on the second floor of the two-story, un-sprinklered apartment building. It took 87 Firefighters, under the careful direction of Battalion Chief Rudy Hill, nearly 30 minutes to fully extinguish the pesky blaze and when it was all over, the water and smoke damage left the 26-unit apartment complex largely, uninhabitable.

The LAFD's Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section was called-out to handle the investigation. After meticulously processing the scene, the probable cause was determined to have been an unspecified type and quantity of a combustible liquid, that had been kept in storage directly adjacent to a hot-water heater in that utility room. What resulted, was a fire that charged the hallways with enough smoke to warrant the cutting of several ventilation holes in the roof of the complex. This operation made the conditions tenable for both the residents that were fleeing the building, as well as the Firefighters below, who worked to confine the fire to just one room.

One LAFD member was hospitalized after falling down a flight of concrete steps in the smoke-filled complex. The Firefighter was transported in fair condition and is expected to make a full recovery.

The Department of Water and Power and the Southern California Gas Company were dispatched to the scene to assist and evaluate issues that were reported with both utilities, as a result of the sustained damage. Local Red Cross was also requested and will assist the displaced occupants with shelter for the evening.

The investigation is ongoing and the dollar loss has not yet been calculated.


DISPATCH UNITS:
E201 T1 RA1 E44 RA844 E16 E202 T2 E212 T12 SQ21 EM2 BC1 BC2 E9 E4 E250 T50 E12 DC2 EM11 BC11 T3 E203 E3 UR3 RA803 UR88 BC5 RA2 RA12 EM9 AR1


Submitted by Matt Spence
Spokesman Los Angeles Fire Department

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'Thunderous Explosion' in Sylmar Sends Three Men to Hospital

SYLMAR - A "thunderous explosion" that ripped the roof from a Sylmar business and sent three men to the hospital, remains under investigation by local and State authorities.

A flurry of 9-1-1 calls reporting the explosion commenced at 4:20PM on Tuesday, August 9, 2011, bringing dozens of Los Angeles Fire Department personnel to a normally quiet foothill industrial park at 12349 Gladstone Avenue in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Arriving quickly, firefighters found missing doors, buckled masonry walls, widely scattered debris and large portions of the roof blown over the parapets of a 50' x 150' section of a 7,400 square-foot one-and-two story building. There was however, no evidence of fire. With paper debris still floating in the air, LAFD crews developed a perimeter for bystander exclusion as they established a command post uphill and upwind of the incident.


Swiftly surveying the scene, firefighters quickly came to the aid of two critically injured men who had apparently been blown from the cinder-block building by the force of the explosion. With early reports of additional victims, an unknown cause - and others who may have been missing, neighborhood firefighters were soon joined by more than one hundred colleagues, including LAFD Hazardous Material and Urban Search & Rescue experts, in a detailed search for the cause and effect of the blast, which was heard and felt over a one-mile area.

The two badly injured men were rushed to trauma centers by LAFD Paramedics, as a methodical examination of the premises found no trapped or missing persons. More than 15 minutes after the search concluded, a man walked up to the command post seeking medical care for unspecified injury from the blast. He was taken in good condition by LAFD ambulance to a nearby hospital for further evaluation.

An estimate of monetary loss to the heavily damaged business, described only as an "alternative fuel and green energy firm", was still being tabulated early Wednesday.

Though the enterprise reportedly used pressure vessels and was involved in the "extraction of hydrogen from water", the specific cause of the explosion remains under active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section and Cal/OSHA officials.


Dispatched Units: E98 RA898 RA98 E91 E275 T75 E24 E287 T87 BC12 E77 T98 E298 RA91 RA7 RA77 RA87 EM15 EM14 EM17 BC15 BC10 UR89 E89 T89 E289 UR88 E88 T88 E288 RA889 DC3 E87 SQ87 AR2 AR23 RA75 E39 EL83 AR3 AR10 BC10 EM15

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Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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Illegal Fireworks Suspected Following Chatsworth Blaze

CHATSWORTH - A grass fire on Independence Day in the northwest San Fernando Valley reported to have injured one or more persons, may have been sparked by illegal fireworks.

Fifty-five Los Angeles Fire Department personnel - including four LAFD helicopters, were summoned at 9:32 P.M. on Monday, July 4, 2011, to 10619 Andora Avenue in Chatsworth, where residents reported a grass fire at nearby Stoney Point, an iconic landmark and municipal park popular with hikers and revered by climbing enthusiasts.

According to witnesses, a thunderous explosion occurred before fire erupted near the site's massive outcroppings. Arriving quickly by ground and air, Los Angeles Firefighters hiked up steep and winding trails in the darkness to confine the wildfire, as LAFD helicopters flanked the blaze that scorched less than a half-acre of tinder-dry brush in the 43 minutes it took to fully extinguish the flames.

Despite an exhaustive search of rugged terrain across the 76-acre site nestled between the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, firefighters were unable to find one or more persons that a witness said were burned in the fire. In seeking the those injured, firefighters discovered and took custody of a large cache of fireworks found atop the towering cliffs.

The specific cause of the blaze remains part of an active investigation by Los Angeles Police and Fire Department Investigators. Those with information about the event are asked to call the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section at (213) 485-6095.


Dispatched Units: E107 E296 E87 T96 BC14 E496 BC15 E72 H4 H6 H1 H3 E106 E104 E103 BP8 AR2 RP88

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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