3 Seen at Site Sought in Suspected Arson

Arson investigators are seeking three unidentified men seen leaving a fire that early Monday destroyed an apartment building under construction in Canoga Park and spread to two nearby dwellings, injuring two women, fire officials said.

The fire caused $430,000 damage to the construction site, a nearby home and six units of an apartment building, said Jim Williamson, spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department.

One of the two injured women suffered second- and third-degree burns when flames spread to the roof of her house, next to the construction site in the 7300 block of Independence Avenue, Williamson said. He said the other woman suffered a cut on her head when she fled a two-story apartment building.

Evelyn Collins, 57, who lived in one of the damaged apartments next to the construction site, said she woke up and saw the unfinished building engulfed in flames.

“I knocked on the neighbors’ door,” said Collins, who was not injured. “They were not aware there was a fire, and we went out of the window on the other side of the building. Someone put a ladder up, and we went down the ladder.”

She said it was the second recent fire at the construction site. Fire Department spokesman Vince Marzo confirmed that there was a small fire at the site a month ago but would give no details.

Although the cause of the fire has not been determined, arson investigators suspect it was set and are seeking three men for questioning, Williamson said.

Nine fire companies extinguished the blaze about half an hour after it began at 1:30 a.m.

The damage was estimated at $400,000 to the construction site, $10,000 to the nearby home and $20,000 to six units of an apartment building on the other side of the site, Williamson said.