60 Apartments Burn in Downey Complex

Fire swept through a two-story apartment house in Downey on Thursday, heavily damaging at least 60 apartment units and causing an estimated $1 million in damage, fire officials said.

The noon-hour blaze, controlled in about an hour, caused only one minor injury, that of a 49-year-old woman who apparently fell while trying to flee, said Downey fire investigator Dennis Lockard. The woman, whose name was not released, was hurt around the head and neck, he said.

The fire destroyed or damaged all 40 units in one building of the complex at 7207 E. Stewart & Gray Road, and damaged 20 units of an adjoining building. In addition, six homes just north of the complex sustained minor roof damage, Lockard said.

The fire was the second this month at the complex, which has a shake-shingle roof of the kind that has burned rapidly in other large fires, according to fire officials.

Three weeks ago, a fire attributed to an electrical short damaged eight units of the complex. Repairs to the roof were still being made when Thursday’s fire broke out.

Investigators said there was no immediate connection between the two blazes, but at least one resident reported that electrical overloads had caused numerous blown fuses in one part of the building as repair crews worked on the roof.

Steve Laster, 35, a six-year resident of the complex, angrily criticized repair crews, saying they ran wires through his second-floor apartment window and plugged them into an outlet in a nearby laundry room. Wires were run in a similar fashion through two other apartments, Laster said.

“The fuses have been blowing for the last two weeks,” he said. “I’m not an electrician--I don’t know. But they’ve been blowing out daily. It’s like a Chinese fire drill.”

Building manager Evi Matos declined to comment on Laster’s assertions, saying he had no knowledge of how the roof repairs were being made.

Tenants Evacuated

Fire officials said about 60 residents who were present at the time were evacuated, and that those without lodging--as many as 200, according to fire officials--were being accommodated at a Red Cross shelter set up at nearby West Middle School.

About 75 firefighters, from as far away as Montebello and Santa Fe Springs, battled the blaze.

“It was spreading fast--like a grass fire,” said resident Frank Hargrave, who said he saw the fire and stopped to offer help.

“One truck stopped right in the middle of the street” so the driver could offer help, Hargrave said. “At least half a dozen people were up there, banging on doors” before the firefighters arrived.