NORTH HOLLYWOOD – THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020
At 1:01AM on April 16, 2020, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 12000 block of W Victory Blvd in North Hollywood. The first arriving fire companies found a large, one, story commercial building with fire showing.
An immediate offensive operation ensued; fire attack worked to make entry into the building while the truck company headed to the roof for vertical ventilation. However, approximately 10 minutes into the incident, the lack of progress towards the seat of the fire and concern for the structural integrity of the structure caused the incident commander to order the transition to the defensive mode.
With all crews out of the building and off the roof, master streams were put into place. Ladder pipes and large hand lines poured copious amounts of water into the fire from the exterior. While the bulk of the fire was extinguished approximately one hour into the incident, difficult to reach pockets of fire remained and continued to flare up.
The 8,111 square foot building, built in 1957, was doing business as Dollar Deluxe, a ‘dollar store’ and had a significant fire load (amount of contents inside the structure). This environment presented challenges to the firefighters as they worked to safely reach the seat of the fire.
The bulk of the flames were extinguished by about 2:10 a.m., but a knockdown was not declared because pockets of fire continued to flare up due to the large number of items inside the Dollar Deluxe store, LAFD Capt. Cory Weireter said.
Nearly 100 firefighters, under the command of Assistant Chief Corey Rose, battled through the night. At 3:06AM (two hours and four minutes into the incident), the incident clock was turned off and firefighters continued working to address the remaining hot spots.
LAFD Arson and Counter-Terrorism section responded, per protocol for a fire of this size, to conduct the cause investigation and it remains an active investigation. No injuries were reported.
The commercial space east of North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza is known for its 1970s and ’80s tenants. Clothing retailer the Gap and record store Licorice Pizza shared the space during that time.
Area: FS 89; Batt 14; Valley Bureau; Council District 2
LAFD Resources: AR11 AR2 BC1 BC10 BC12 BC14 CM42 E102 E203 E239 E260 E278 E287 E289 E298 E3 E39 E60 E86 E88 E89 EA1 EM14 HE1 HR3 PI3 RA60 RA860 RA889 RA89 SQ87 T3 T39 T60 T78 T87 T89 T98 UR3 UR88
Frequencies: LAFD Ch8, LAFD Tac12, LAFD Tac13
Source: LAFD Spokesperson Margaret Stewart, and City News Service. Photo Credits: Photo by Chris Eckenrode