The cause of the fire on Dec. 14 in the hills near Occidental College is “undetermined,” according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. An “undetermined” label means that no specific cause can be established from two or more possible causes, though none of the possibilities indicate a fire intentionally set by someone. The LAFD has now closed the investigation into the Oxy fire, which scorched two acres and took some 75 firefighters about an hour to extinguish.
The cause of the brush fire along the 134 freeway above Eagle Rock on Jan. 4 has also been categorized as “undetermined,” and the investigation has been closed. “The fire was thankfully one of our smallest vegetation fires this year,” wrote LAFD spokesperson Brian Humphrey.
The fire at 4537 Eagle Rock Blvd. in Eagle Rock on Jan. 7 is still under investigation. The fire, in a vacant, fenced off building, included a partial roof collapse that caused firefighters to be pulled from the building at one point. There were no injuries.
The explosion/fire in a detached two car garage at 4643 Cleland Ave. in Mt. Washington on Jan. 20 is still under investigation, though firefighters arriving on the scene noted the smell of gas and learned that a workman at the site had lit a cigarette just before the garage exploded and caught fire. An initial report by the LAFD says that one “civilian burn patient,” age 61, was taken to the hospital in serious condition, with burns to the head, face and both arms. It took 36 firefighters 12 minutes to confine the fire.
T.A. Hendrickson, a native of Eagle Rock, is the editor of the Boulevard Sentinel and a former member of the Editorial Board of the New York Times.
Comments are closed.