PACOIMA - In the afternoon of November 8th, 2011 firefighters quickly extinguished a fire that broke out in one unit of a large senior living apartment building, one occupant was injured.

Truck 98 arrived at 11060 North Norris Avenue, and saw heavy black smoke billowing out of two windows on the fourth floor of a modern five-story building with an attached six-story wing.

Residents of Pledgerville Senior Citizen Villa were self evacuating as firefighters ran into the building and up the stairway to the fire floor. They made their way through the smoke filled hallway and were able to rapidly put water on the fire. Fortunately, the 27 year-old building was equipped with fire sprinklers and smoke alarms, assisting in minimizing the spread of fire and alerting occupants. Firefighters then horizontally ventilated the residual smoke on the fourth floor with large blowers.

No stone was left unturned, as firefighters entered every unit in the nearly 80,000 square-foot building to ensure all residents were safely out. A group of approximately 40 elderly occupants were carefully gathered together outside and rapidly assessed to confirm that no one required medical attention. Once all residents were accounted for, they were strategically rehoused. However, residents of approximately five units were displaced due to damaged apartments. Only one individual was injured, the 75 year-old female occupant of the unit on fire suffered smoke inhalation and was transported to a local hospital in fair condition.

One unit on the fourth floor was heavily damaged, but due to the hard work of 83 firefighters, all under the command of Assistant Chief Patrick Butler, the flames were extinguished in just 17 minutes.
 
The cause of this fire is under active investigation and the dollar loss is still being tabulated.

Dispatched Units: E298 T98 RA98 RA898 E7 E275 T75 E91 E81 EM15 BC12 BC10 E70 RA75 RA91 E77 E287 T87 RA70 EM14 EM2 DC3 E89 RA889 T88 E288 UR88 BC14 RA81 RA77 RA74

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Submitted by Erik Scott, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department