An abandoned building on a Pine Avenue site planned for new apartments has burned for the second time in two months, this time killing a man.
Long Beach firefighters were called to the fire in the 900 block of Pine Avenue, at East 10th Street, at 5:45 a.m. Sunday, Capt. Jack Crabtree said.
They found a “large two-story commercial building with heavy smoke coming out of the structure” and searched inside for people while fighting the fire, a two-alarm blaze that required about 40 personnel, Crabtree said.
On the building’s second floor was an unconscious man; firefighters took him outside, but he was later pronounced dead “due to fire and smoke-related injuries,” Crabtree said. One firefighter sustained minor burn injuries but was treated and able to return to duty.
Crabtree did not immediately have information on the dead man’s age or identity.
The same building also burned in early March, Crabtree said, adding that it’s known to have sometimes been occupied by unhoused people.
According to the public safety app Pulse Point, the site of Sunday’s fire was the former Queen Beach Printers, which is reportedly set to be replaced with an eight-story building that would include 69 apartments and retail space on the ground floor.