A two-alarm fire destroyed an apartment at a senior living facility Friday afternoon, but no other units were affected by the fire. Photos by Brittany Woolsey
Four patients were treated after a two-alarm fire at a senior living facility off Seventh Street and Alamitos Avenue on Friday afternoon, authorities said.
The initial call concerning the fire at Seabreeze Senior Apartments at 745 Alamitos Avenue came in at about 11:50AM, said Long Beach Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Dave Kean.
Arriving firefighters found a heavy, fully-involved fire in a fourth-floor unit, and called for a second alarm to bring in reinforcements.
“When they got there, they saw nothing but smoke and fire blowing out of that window,” said LBFD spokesman Jake Heflin at the scene.
Firefighters from Engine 10 used a 350-foot hose line and brought it up four flights of stairs, dousing the affected unit and then cutting a hole in the roof for ventilation.
Residents self-evacuated, but those on the fourth floor were told to stay in their individual units while firefighters extinguished the fire.
The fire was put out by 12:02PM and left signs of smoke damage throughout the fourth-floor hallway. However, no other units showed signs of fire or damage other than the unit of origin.
“This fire could have easily spread through the hallways once they opened the door, and that would have lost the whole fourth floor,” Heflin said. “But because of what they were able to do, and the hole they cut in the roof, they were able to isolate the fire. These guys did an awesome job.”
He said that LBFD personnel treated four patients total, with two requiring transportation to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
One of the transported victims was the resident inside the charred apartment, Heflin said. He said the 64-year-old male resident came home and noticed his entire apartment charred with smoke then called 911.
“No one was hurt, which is amazing, because this was at a senior living facility. People had limited mobility,” Heflin said. “Tremendous action on behalf of the firefighters saved many other residents, saved loss of life and limited the fire from spreading from the area of origin.”
Fire investigators are on scene investigating the cause of the fire, Kean said. No further information is currently available. We will update this story when we learn more.
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