Not the First Fire in South Park: Fourth Fire in 3.5 Months!

Déjà vu. On March 10 at 1:43 am, 100 LAFD firefighters returned to the scene of a November 25, 2024, fire on Flower Street south of Pico to tackle another fire. The new fire included two unoccupied buildings, heavy flames, and smoke resulted in shutting down the Metro Blue (A) and Gold (E) lines running through Pico Station. Debris from the fire caused the Metro lines to remain closed the rest of the day after the fire was contained.

         The fire started in a two-building commercial unit and spread to a nearby building that took one hour and 37 minutes to extinguish. Firefighters defended two additional exposed buildings – an auto body shop adjacent to the fire and a four-story apartment building to the rear. Occupants of the apartment building were able to shelter in place and no evacuation was required. 

         The story though is the number of unoccupied buildings in a few short months in a two-block area of South Park that have gone up in flames, posing risk to neighboring buildings, disrupting traffic, and shutting down Metro lines. In addition to the two fires related to the Flower/Pico fires, there was a fire on December 26 at the Morrison Hotel on Hope between Pico and 12th, followed with a fire on January 7 in an adjacent structure to the Morrison Hotel.

         At a recent neighborhood meeting, a representative for LAFD addressed a resident concern about the recent fires. He offered the advice that residents could help by reporting abandoned buildings that are not secured to avoid unauthorized occupants, noticing people entering abandoned buildings, or noticing people living in such buildings. See something, say something is helpful, but what is needed is more than citizen observations. The safety and security of the neighborhood requires more than volunteer service.

By Debra Shrout