A fire broke out Tuesday night at the Club California apartment
complex on Roebling Avenue a few blocks from campus, though no one
was injured.
The blaze, which was quickly contained by the Los Angeles Fire
Department, started in a vacant apartment around 8:20 p.m. and was
put out within half an hour of starting.
The cause of the third-floor fire at Club California is under
active investigation, said fire department spokesman Brian
Humphrey.
Tanya Rudin, the assistant manager of the complex, said she
believed the fire was caused by electrical problems.
Residents of the apartment complex at 10982 Roebling Ave.
reported seeing flames of the fire blazing out a side window of the
burning third-floor apartment.
All the residents of Club California were forced to evacuate as
alarms went off in all 213 units.
They waited until firefighters cleared the building about half
an hour after arriving on the scene and extinguishing the fire.
“I was inside when the alarm went off ““ pretty dang
loud ““ and started hearing feet in the halls. People were
running out so I got dressed and took off,” said Scott
Beckerman, a fourth-year political science and linguistics
student.
Thirty firefighters and four trucks from four stations along
with two paramedics arrived quickly on the scene, Humphrey
said.
“Right after we heard the alarm going off (fire trucks)
were coming down the street,” said Lindsay Mullin, a
fourth-year communication studies student and resident of Club
California.
“As soon as we were out here there were like six fire
trucks out here. They did a good job, it didn’t seem to be a
big deal,”
The fire department, which employs roughly 1,035 firefighters a
day at 103 neighborhood stations, spent 45 minutes on the scene.
The call was the 937th fire call received by the department on
Tuesday, well below their average of roughly 2,000 calls a day.
Humphrey said the most important statistic was the number of
people injured: zero.
After extinguishing the fire, firefighters spent some more time
clearing the burnt apartment of combustible materials and notifying
neighbors, as an investigation continues over the exact cause of
the fire.
Rudin declined further comment but said the complex plans to
repair the room and further examine the causes of the fire.
Residents said the complex’s management normally responds
to maintenance and upkeep problems promptly.