Salvage work continued Wednesday in the rubble of a boarded-up North Hills commercial building following a raging fire that gutted the structure, and fire crews were working to determine if anyone may have died in the inferno.
Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responded at 5:43 p.m. Tuesday to 15226 W. Parthenia St., between Burnet and Columbus avenues, where they found flames engulfing the two-story structure and threatening a four-story, garden-style apartment building next door, LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.
It was the second major emergency fire in the San Fernando Valley in less than 24 hours. A fire gutted much of a commercial building in Winnetka on Tuesday, causing a partial collapse and injuring one person.
Seventeen fire companies were dispatched to battle the North Hills blaze, with crews fighting the fire in the commercial building from outside the structure while firefighters worked their way floor-by-floor through the apartment complex “for evacuation and location of any fire,” Stewart said.
More than 100 firefighters extinguished the fire in just under two hours.
“One 42-year-old female patient was transported in fair condition for possible smoke inhalation,” Stewart said.
At least two people from the apartment building were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, according to reports from the scene, which indicated 27 people — six adults and 21 children — were displaced from the apartment building, due primarily to broken glass and smoke damage.
The fire department announced that three apartments were yellow-tagged, but a report from the scene Wednesday afternoon indicated that 41 unites had been yellow-tagged, meaning they sustained moderate damage and are inhabitable only on a limited basis.
The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety was slated to visit the commercial building Wednesday to assess the fire damage.
On Wednesday morning, dogs trained to search for human remains were brought to the site to determine if anyone may have died in the building. Neighbors told reporters homeless people were known to take up residence in the building, which used to be a church.
According to the fire department, the dogs “showed interest” in an area not easily accessibly by firefighters. Since the dogs are trained to detect the presence of human blood, bone or tissue, the fact they showed interest in an area does not necessarily mean a body is present, fire officials said.
Heavy equipment was being used to “strategically” demolish the structure so a more thorough search can be conducted. The remains-detecting dogs could be brought back to the site if needed. The operation could take several days.
The LAFD’s arson section was investigating the cause of the blaze, as well as the one in Winnetka, as standard procedure in the case of major emergency fires.