Neighbors Flee; Man Falls to His Death : Fire Levels 80-Unit Apartment Project

A midnight fire engulfed an 80-unit apartment complex under construction in Hollywood, forcing about 100 residents to evacuate nearby homes and apartments and leading to the death of a man who fell off a nearby building, officials said Thursday.

The fire, contained in less than two hours by Los Angeles firefighting units, destroyed the three-story apartment house that was nearing completion at 1800 N. Normandie Ave. near Hollywood Boulevard, authorities said. Damage was estimated at more than $2.7 million.

Dieter Mierau, 44, fell to his death from the roof of a three-story building on Winona Boulevard a block away after joining others who gathered to watch the fire, police said. No other injuries were reported, although the blaze spread to two occupied buildings before it was brought under control around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Fire Department spokesman Vince Marzo said.

The fire severely damaged a 16-unit apartment complex north of the construction site and gutted a home on the south, Marzo said. The intense flames damaged seven cars parked across the street from the site, turning the rear-view mirror on one pickup truck into just “a glob of plastic melted on the door,” Marzo said.

Marzo said arson investigators were beginning a routine investigation into the origin of the fire, but “at this point there’s nothing to make us think it was arson.”

Reported at Midnight

The luxury complex had been under construction for 5 1/2 months and builders had completed plastering the first two floors, said Andy Anderson, a foreman for Spaulding Construction Co.

Fire officials said the blaze was reported at midnight and was already visible when the first of 24 units began approaching the site from half a mile away.

Diyan Zenian, whose home was burned, said he and his wife, Ayda, managed to evacuate his family after one of his children awoke and sounded the alert. Family members, including a grandmother and two teen-age children, escaped unharmed before flames swept through the one-story home. A pet Pomeranian dog was killed in the fire.

As scores of residents fled into the streets from neighboring buildings, the city’s Department of Water and Power cut electrical service to the area for fear that burning power lines would fall among them, fire spokesman Marzo said.

The temporary blackout probably contributed to Mierau’s fatal fall, said Los Angeles Police Detective Dennis Kilcoyne.

“He appeared to be intoxicated, according to witnesses,” Kilcoyne said. “Apparently, the intoxication and the excitement of the fire . . . and the blackout” caused him to fall.