PANORAMA CITY : Fire Inspectors Cite Apartment Tenants

Fire, health and building safety inspectors have cracked down on street vendors living in a Panorama City apartment complex, citing tenants and the building’s owner for cooking food with propane gas stoves, blocking open fire doors and more than 80 other violations.

The latest incident at the 40-unit apartment complex in the 14700 block of Blythe Street occurred Thursday when inspectors from the Los Angeles Fire Department cited six residents in separate units for illegally preparing food with propane gas stoves, said Battalion Chief Dean Cathey, with the Fire Department community liaison office.

“These are the kinds of violations that create great risk to the occupants,” said Cathey, who referred to the site as “slum housing.” He did not have the names of those cited.

The team of inspectors discovered a number of other violations, involving such things as fire doors blocked open, inoperable alarm systems and fire extinguishers, missing smoke detectors, holes in the walls and ceilings, and combustible material in trash cans and under the stairs, Cathey said.

Most of the food cooked with propane is Mexican-style corn and pork rinds that are sold in small carts on the street, said Jenny Alberts, 44, of San Pedro. Alberts, who has been manager of the complex since January, 1992, said she has been aware of the propane danger for “about two weeks.”

On June 15, environmental health specialist Grainne Clarke of the County Department of Environmental Health found 80 health code violations in the complex, ranging from severe cockroach infestation to plumbing problems. Clarke also warned the tenants to stop using the propane units for cooking, then brought back officials Thursday from the Fire Department and the Building and Safety Department for a second inspection.

The case is being turned over to the city attorney’s office, which will consider legal action. Officials at the city Building and Safety Department and the city attorney’s office could not be reached for comment, but Cathey said the citations are all misdemeanors with up to a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

Alberts, who is hoping for a city loan to solve the building violations, is also trying to educate the tenants who are street vendors about the dangers of propane cooking.

“You ask these people if they know their children can be killed by these things blowing up, and they say ‘yes,’ ” Alberts said. “But this is the way they make a living. Where are they going to go? Nobody has been able to solve the problem.”