Cigarette Blamed in Apartment Fire
A fire blamed on a cigarette dropped in a stuffed chair destroyed the three-story recreation building of a Torrance apartment complex Saturday and caused smoke and water damage to 24 of the complex’s 436 units.
About 40 of the more than 800 tenants of the Willow Tree Apartments at 4445 Pacific Coast Highway were left temporarily homeless by the blaze, according to Happy Kelly, president of Bayco Financial Corp., which manages the building.
The corporation housed 14 tenants in local motels, she said, and the others moved into vacant units or went to live with relatives or friends.
She estimated damage at $750,000.
“Investigators said a cigarette had been left to smolder in an overstuffed chair in the recreation center,” Kelly said. The fire burned through the floors and roof of the recreation center. Smoke and water did serious damage to the four closest apartments in a neighboring building, and less serious damage to the other 20 units in the same building.
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