Cigarette Smoking Causes Structure Fire Leading to Mans Death

SOUTH PARK - Los Angeles Firefighters battled a blaze in a small duplex, that gravely injured a man on August 11, 2014.

 © Image by OnScene.TV

Just before 1:30 AM, the Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned to 237 W. 50th Street to find an approximately 500 square-foot duplex on fire. Firefighters performed a quick and aggressive attack on the flames with hose-lines while colleagues performed vertical ventilation on the roof with chainsaws to remove hot smoke and gasses.

During an initial rapid search inside, a man was located in the hallway. Firefighters extricated the pulseless and non-breathing man, rendered immediate CPR and Advanced Life Support medical aid on scene. He was transported to a local hospital in grave condition. Due to the outstanding efforts of Firefighter/Paramedics along with seasoned hospital staff, the patients pulses were regained, however he remains in grave condition. No one else was injured.

A total of 40 Firefighters, under the command of Battalion Chief Kristin Crowley, fully extinguished the flames in 20 minutes, confining them to the unit of origin.

Two hardwired smoke alarms were located inside the residence, however they were non-functional. The home was not equipped with residential fire sprinklers and there were no obvious factors to impede the man's escape.

As LAFD Investigators combed through smoldering debris, firefighters canvassed the neighborhood as part of LAFD's Smoke Alarm Field Education (SAFE) Program, and distributed 30 free smoke alarms and fire safety information. Over a half dozen non-functional smoke alarms were located in the neighborhood. The LAFD thanks First Alert for graciously donating smoke alarms.

Monetary loss from the fire is estimated at $100,000 ($75,000 structure & $25,000 contents). An estimated $264,000 in property damage was saved by firefighters.

LAFD Senior Arson Investigator David Liske stated the cause of the early morning blaze was from a "smoker/cigarette fire".

Did you know? Every year, almost 1,000 smokers and non-smokers are killed in home fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking materials. You can make a difference!

FireSafeCigarettes.org

Dispatched Units: E46 RA246 RA846 E233 E33 T33 E21 T21 E221 SQ21 EM11 BC13 BC11 E15 RA46 RA33 AR2 AR11 AR21

UPDATE: The 60 year-old gravely injured man, sadly was pronounced dead at a local hospital August 12, 2014. This marks the seventeenth Structure Fire related fatality in LAFD's jurisdiction this year, which is a high number of fatalities in a short amount of time. Many if not all of these deaths likely could have been averted had there been functional smoke alarms present.

Last year there were a total of 20 Structure Fire related deaths.

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Submitted by Erik Scott, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department