Cause of Blazes in 3 Vacant Buildings Probed : Homeless: L.A. officials are seeking to determine whether the fires were started by transients trying to stay warm. Cold weather and a shortage of beds in shelters have added to the problem.

Los Angeles firefighters were investigating three blazes in vacant buildings to determine if they were started by transients using the buildings for shelter, officials said Monday.

Firefighters battled blazes Monday at the empty Californian Hotel in the Westlake area, which also suffered fire damage last week, and at two vacant apartment buildings in the Rampart area and near West Hollywood.

Several recent fires in vacant buildings have been traced to transients who started them to stay warm, authorities said.

“Last week, when we cleared the scene (at the Hotel Californian), I’m sure that squatters were right back in there when we left,” said Bob Collis, a Los Angeles city Fire Department spokesman.

No serious injuries were reported at any of the fires, but six people believed to be transients were slightly injured at the fire near West Hollywood.

Collis said that many of the city’s empty buildings are boarded up with plywood, and some have chain-link fences to prevent trespassers from entering.

But the Department of Building and Safety, which authorizes the boarding up of buildings that are unsafe to inhabit, has received many reports of transients living in empty complexes. Inspectors are sent to check out complaints of squatters in closed buildings, said Alfredo Garcia, the department’s chief inspector.

Over the years, homeless people have come to rely on abandoned buildings, particularly during cold-weather months, because of a lack of sufficient beds at shelters, homeless advocates said.

There are 2,000 extra beds available at Los Angeles shelters during inclement weather to supplement the 9,500 year-round beds for the homeless. The “cold-weather” beds are added when the forecast calls for temperatures of 40 degrees or lower, or when there is a 50% or greater chance of rain. Then beginning Dec. 13, the beds are available every night for 76 days.

“When people break into a house, an office, an apartment complex that has been closed, of course that’s not legal,” said Gene Boutilier, executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. “On the other hand, it’s unfair and outrageous that we have people with no place to stay because of red tape and bureaucracy.”