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4th Floor Apartment Fire Causes Extensive Water Damage
By Steve Yamamoto | October 4, 2010
At approximately 12:15 pm this afternoon, the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) responded to reports of an apartment fire at the corner of 3rd Street and Linden Ave. Upon arrival, Engine 24 discovered that there was in fact one unit on the 4th floor that had light gray smoke coming out of the window. Just as crew members pulled up to the front door, the fire had been knocked down by a dry chemical fire extinguisher. Another vital resource this building had in place was a functional fire sprinkler system.
This kept the rapidly growing fire in check to the upstairs area until the Fire Department could arrive on scene. This once again proves the effectiveness fire sprinklers in a building. Once the fire was confirmed “knocked down”, and the rooms were cleared of all potential victims, crews immediately began salvage operations to control the large amount of water damage that would take place. First they had to shut down the sprinkler system so they could replace the sprinkler head that had been activated. Then they utilized portable water vacuums and other specialized water removal tools to get rid standing water that was quickly accumulating in the fire unit and the units below. In all, there were 4 units that were affected by this fire. Some residents were displaced and The American Red Cross was called to provide shelter for those individuals.
If not for the members of the LBFD controlling the water flow and shutting the sprinkler system down, the water damage could have been a lot more extensive with numerous residents being displaced. The cause of this fire is still under investigation.
This incident occurred in the 1st Council District with a total of 16 fire apparatus and 35 fire personnel operating on scene.
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