Building Roof Collapses While Firefighters Inside Battle Blaze : Tarzana: Only one person suffers minor heat exhaustion, and is hospitalized in good condition. Flames gut two floors of the structure.
An early morning fire caused the roof of a three-story office building to collapse Sunday as firefighters were inside battling the blaze, but none was seriously injured, authorities said.
One firefighter suffered minor heat exhaustion, but was in good condition at Tarzana Regional Medical Center after the fire, which gutted the second and third floors of the building at 17835 Ventura Blvd., Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis said.
No one was inside the building when the fire started about 6:18 a.m., Collis said. Flames were extinguished by 7:38 a.m. after 105 firefighters reported to the scene, Collis said.
“The fire was through the roof when they got on the scene,” Collis said.
Firefighter John Moede was in the building trying to douse the fire when parts of a tile ceiling collapsed, exposing him and his colleagues to the flames. Moede said he “. . . held onto that hose like it was my lifeline.”
Firefighters were ordered to withdraw from the building after the ceiling fell and continued to fight the blaze from outside.
Authorities on Sunday had not determined the cause of the fire nor had they calculated the cost of the damage, Collis said.
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