Santa Monica, CA

Fire in Basement Prompts Apartment Building Evacuation

Los Angeles Bay Incidents

On Friday, December 31st, the Santa Monica Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire approximately at 4:40 pm prompting 4 engine companies, 1 truck company, 1 air/light rescue company, and a battalion chief to respond. The building consisted of 17 floors, 911 callers reported heavy smoke on the top floors. Upon the 1st engine‘s arrival (Engine 7), there was no visible smoke seen coming outside the building and they located people outside the building and started a search inside the building for any remaining occupants that may be inside. Sprinklers were activated inside the building due to the smoke. The truck company along with the rescue company and another engine company tried to find where the fire was. The fire was located inside the basement, at the bottom of the trash shoot. It’s believed that someone threw something down into the trash shoot which had an open flame and began to spread in the trash shoot. They knocked down the fire very quickly but fire crews remained on the scene for 3 hours due to elevators not working and trying to reset the fire alarm panel. An ambulance was later called for a resident who needed medical assistance, it's unclear if it was related to the fire or not and it's unknown if they were transported or not. Residents were not let back into the building until about an hour and a half later after the fire was first reported.

Witnesses inside the building said that there was a lot of smoke on the 17th floor. One witness said that they were awakened by the fire alarm and evacuated the building.

There has been no official cause of fire released by the Santa Monica Fire Department at this time. We reached out to a spokesperson for comment and they have not responded back at this time.

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