Chronicle of a Major High-Rise Fire

At 8:37 a.m. on January 29, a caller reported a fire on the seventh floor of a 25-story high-rise in West Los Angeles. The building was part of the three-building Barrington Plaza complex on Wilshire Boulevard.

Within minutes about 335 firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) responded, with more than 200 pieces of apparatus. The first fire company reported arrival less than two minutes after being alerted. They were supported by crews from the Santa Monica Fire Department and Los Angeles Police Department.

The fire started in a corner apartment on the seventh floor and spread to apartments on the eighth. The building housed at least 340 residents in 240 apartments, and at least 13 people were reported injured, including a three-month-old child. One person, a 19-year-old male, needed CPR and was transported to nearby UCLA Medical Center in grave condition. Unfortunately the patient, an exchange student from France, succumbed to his injuries two days later.

Seven of 11 injured residents were transported in stable condition with moderate smoke inhalation to UCLA Medical Center and Providence St. Johns Health Center in Santa Monica. Four others were treated by LAFD paramedics and released. In addition, two firefighters suffered minor burn injuries and were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
 

Risky Rescues

Initial reports of people jumping from windows and balconies in the 25-story residence proved incorrect. However, a male resident was seen climbing out of a seventh-floor window next to flames coming out of the apartment next door. He clung to the exterior of the building on a narrow ledge. LAFD truck No. 92 responded quickly to that situation and extended its 94-foot aerial ladder. The truck company, including firefighters Garrett Boccara and David Gastelum, worked to maneuver the ladder through heavy smoke and strong winds as close to the victim as possible. Once the man was able to safely transition from the ledge to the ladder, he climbed down to safety.

Firefighters rescued numerous people through the staircases and via helicopters. Despite the strong winds, with gusts of 35–40 miles per hour, at least four LAFD helicopters and one sheriff’s department airship hoisted about 15 people (and reportedly two dogs) from the rooftop. All those were flown to a nearby landing zone.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas provided the first press briefing an hour into the incident. “We have rarely done rooftop evacuations,” he said. “It’s a valuable [use] for our helicopters—they worked effectively.” He urged residents to stay inside the building, promising firefighters would search the entire 25-story structure and provide assistance if needed.

Earlier in the day LAFD units had responded to a fire at a nearby high-rise office building on Wilshire and San Vicente Boulevard. According to fire commander Armando Hogan, “Once that was winding down, our firefighters recognized smoke down the road.” The buildings are basically within sight of each other.

Massive Response

The LAFD dispatched a large amount of personnel and equipment to the residential high-rise fire. The massive response consisted of more than 200 pieces of apparatus, including 48 fire engines, 19 ladder trucks, 18 rescue ambulances, nine battalion chiefs and additional EMS supervisors, three large command vehicles, three heavy-rescue and USAR trucks, arson units, and a variety of logistics and support vehicles, as well as four helicopters.

The flames were extinguished with 80 minutes. This was accomplished by an interior attack by fire crews and exterior water streams from ladder trucks.

The LAFD is Los Angeles’ exclusive provider of EMS, including ambulance transport; fire and rescue services; fire prevention and investigation; and hazardous-materials response for about four million residents. Crews throughout 113 fire stations cover 471 square miles. Nearly all firehouses maintain at least one engine company and one rescue ambulance. Some stations accommodate light task forces consisting of a ladder truck and a pumper (which always go together) and/or a second rescue ambulance.

The LAFD operates an air operations bureau at Fire Station No. 114 on the grounds of Van Nuys Airport in the San Fernando Valley. The fleet is staffed 24/7 by a crew of pilots, air medics, and helitack members. Air operations include brushfire suppression, air ambulance transport, high-rise fire response, and hoist rescues. The flight line typically has seven helicopters ready for deployment, including five AW139 medium helicopters and two light Bell 206s. All pilots are sworn members of the LAFD and initially trained and worked in the field as firefighters. According to the dispatch protocol, at least four helicopters were active at this scene.

The Barrington Plaza high-rise complex is located within LAFD Battalion 9’s jurisdiction. At least three fire stations are in a two-mile radius. The location is also part of the West Wilshire high-rise corridor. This district, which includes Westwood and UCLA, is home to around 50 high-rise office and residential buildings, each taller than 15 floors. Accordingly, the first ladder and engine companies were well versed in responding to those type of buildings.

The LAFD maintains a high-rise manual with procedures that cover high-rise ICS (Incident Command System), operations such as search and rescue, fire extinguishment, ventilation, elevators, water systems, radio communications, and air operations, but also built-in systems, building design, and fire-protection systems. The LAFD’s SOPs note “a high-rise fire will call for a tremendous amount of resources… It is essential that sufficient resources be called as soon as possible.”

LAFD EMS

All EMS resources on scene were part of the LAFD organization. This included at least 18 rescue ambulances, three fast-response vehicles, an advanced provider response unit, and three EMS captains.

EMS comprises more than 85% of LAFD’s emergency responses. The LAFD’s EMS Bureau oversees the prehospital care provided by 2,500 firefighter/EMTs and 1,200 firefighter/paramedics. On average LAFD units respond daily to more than 1,000 medical calls and transport over 600 patients. In 2019 the average time for processing EMS calls was 1:04, the average turnout time was 52 seconds, and the average travel time was 4:33 seconds.

For mass-casualty incidents the LAFD follows ICS procedures. LAFD responders create a medical branch and expand the “tree” as needed. This include medical and transportation groups. Subsequently the medical group covers triage and treatment. The transportation supervisor establishes ambulance staging, records patient transports, and coordinates medical communication.

UCLA Medical Center

A major Level 1 trauma center, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is located less than two miles from the building fire. The 420-bed facility is currently ranked the sixth-best hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Its emergency room has 41 licensed beds, and its capacity can be expanded to triage and treat large numbers of patients as needed. The facility has 150 ICU beds for adults and also houses UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital.

The UCLA Medical Center is the primary hospital for numerous fire ambulances and paramedic squads throughout West Los Angeles, including Beverly Hills FD, LAFD, and L.A. County FD.

On the morning of January 29, the hospital was informed by local authorities about a potential MCI resulting from the high-rise fire nearby. According to William Dunne, administrative director for emergency preparedness and security, the facility activated its emergency operations protocols and subsequently opened its hospital command center. This was staffed by senior executives and nursing supervisors, and during that incident operations, logistics, and planning positions were activated. A senior executive administrator (who also is a physician) filled the role of incident commander. Dunne noted, “UCLA Medical Center maintains a trained and certified cadre of senior executives to staff the hospital command center, with even an executive on call at all times.” 

The hospital received a total of five patients. One was in grave condition, one critical, and three stable. The patient in grave condition died two days later. The critical patient was treated and released the next day, and the three stable patients were treated and monitored for several hours but released the same day.

Remarkably, a representative from the UCLA Medical Center was sent to Incident Command Post at the fire and acted as the liaison between the LAFD/LAPD responders and the hospital. Around 3 p.m. word was received that no additional victims were found during the search of the 240-apartment building. Subsequently the hospital began to demobilize the incident and close its command center. 

Conclusion

The entire building was red-tagged for two days by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. Personnel from the LAFD and LAPD remained on site for those two days and assisted residents in retrieving crucial items such as medicines, needed papers, and other necessities.

The city of Los Angeles has about 770 high-rise buildings, including 55 high-rise residential buildings without sprinklers. Fire sprinklers did not exist in the Barrington high-rise despite some serious fires since its construction in 1961. One large fire started on New Year’s Day in 1971. In October 2013 another began on the 11th floor of the same building and injured five people.

Regarding January’s deadly fire, the first lawsuit was filed the very next day on behalf of a resident. 

Exactly one week later, on Wednesday, February 5, LAFD units responded again to a report of smoke in the reoccupied high-rise. Someone had thrown a lit cigarette down a trash chute, setting off the alarm. Frustrated residents evacuated the building while firefighters contained the incident.

Obviously not much has improved the building’s safety over the years. However, a well-trained, well-equipped, experienced and skilled fire and EMS department was able to contain this fire’s damage and save lives.

Gunnar J. Kuepper is publisher of GBU News and a disaster management expert in the Los Angeles area. He has served on the NFPA 1600 technical committee for emergency management and business continuity, as director of the California Emergency Services Association’s Southern Chapter, and as finance director and a regional president for the International Association of Emergency Managers. He spent 13 years as COO for Emergency & Disaster Management, Inc.