Blaze Burns Sparr Heights House

At 9:27 last Sunday morning, seven fire companies from the Glendale Fire Deptartment, one from Los Angeles County and from Pasadena Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Team converged in the 2500 block of Buena Vista Avenue in response to a 911 call that a house was on fire.

The quiet of the Sparr Heights neighborhood was shattered with the sound of sirens wailing and shouts of fire personnel pulling heavy canvas water hoses across manicured yards. Neighbors, some dressed in robes and slippers, showing great concern on their faces, watched from afar.

Upon their arrival, firefighters found the interior of the two-story house fully engulfed in flames. A search and rescue operation by the fire department began, and fire crews soon ascertained from neighbors that the house was unoccupied and vacant.

Phyllis Stiles, who owned the house for more than 50 years, had recently sold the house to Rob Russell. He is the son of Tom and Alice Russell, owners of Anderson’s Pet Store in Montrose. Rob was in the process of having the house remodeled during the fire, and the house was unoccupied.

Russell quietly stood on the sidewalk with his 4-year-old son, Kyle, nestled in his arms, watching the flames shoot through the shingle roof.

“I just feel numb right now,” Russell said as he held his little boy closer to his chest.

Standing nearby with their arms around each other was Mary Jo Binder, who moved into the house when she was 5-years-old. Accompanying her was her daughter, Alyssa, a senior at Flintridge Prep, and her son Andrew, a senior at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge.

Binder was quivering and close to tears as she watched her childhood home burn. “No matter what, a part of my childhood will always be wrapped up in that house. I feel so bad for Rob because he loved the house too, and he was so thrilled to bring up his own family there,” Binder said.

Damage to the house was estimated at $350,000. There were no injuries to firefighters. Thirty-three firemen knocked down the flames within 30 minutes but remained on site for nearly six hours securing the property.

“The fire crews did one heck of a job,” said Capt. Steven Parrish, Glendale Fire Department public information officer. “They took aggressive action to contain the flames quickly so that other nearby homes were not damaged. I think that perhaps the fact that the home was being remodeled and some of the drywall had been removed caused the fire to spread more rapidly.”

The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation, which Parrish said is normal procedure for all house fires.

Photo By Jane Napier