A man was critically burned March 31 when a house he was in was engulfed in fire and smoke, the Los Angeles Fire Dept. (LAFD) reported.
According to a report issued by the LAFD, firefighters were dispatched to a reporte house fire at the 1500 block of Carmelina Avenue in Sawtelle just before 1:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. When firefighters arrived to the house , thick smoke was emanating from the back of the one-story structure.
LAFD stated 36 firefighters fought the blaze and reportedly squelched it within 21 minutes. After the fire was put out, firefighters performed a search and rescue inside the house and found an adult male inside the residence. According to the LAFD, the male victim “suffered facial burns and was rapidly treated and transported to a local hospital in critical condition.”
Most of the blaze was “confined to one rear room of the residence,” the LAFD reported.
The LAFD Arson Section is investigating the cause of the fire.
During the initial investigation immediately after the fire was put out, the LAFD stated “there was evidence of a functional smoke alarm inside the residence that was alerting upon firefighter arrival.”
“There was a double lock requiring a key on a front security door but no window bars to impair egress of the residence. The house was not equipped with optional fire sprinklers,” fire officials stated on the LAFD blog.
The fire reportedly cost an estimated $275,000 in damages, according to the LAFD, including about $250,000 in structural damage and $25,000 worth of damage to the contents inside the house.
Fire officials estimated firefighters saved an estimated $500,000 in additional damage as a result of the LAFD’s response time and efforts to put the fire out before it spread to the entire house.
According to the LAFD Twitter page, the house was located at 1550 Carmelina Avenue, which is near Bundy Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. The house is one block east of the Los Angeles-Santa Monica border.
Sawtelle is bounded by Brentwood to the north, Santa Monica to the west, the 10 freeway to the south, and the 405 freeway to the east.
