Fire rips through apartment buildings in LA Chinatown

A fire started overnight Friday at an apartment building under construction in Los Angeles Chinatown and quickly spread to two other apartment buildings, reported KTLA.

At least one person is critically injured. He’s described by ABC7 as a 90-year-old man. 130 firefighters responded to the fire call and apartment residents have been evacuated.

Reports of the number of injured varies with CBS putting the injury total at three, but ABC7 saying six had been injured and Fox11 reporting five had been injured.

Fox11 reports that firefighters rushed to the third floor of one apartment building where there were fears residents had been trapped inside. Flames could be seen shooting high into the air from the three-story apartment.

A neighbor told reporters that the homeless had occupied the building under construction. They say no active work had been done on the building in two years. They suspect the squatters may have started the fire, a suspicion that fire investigators say they have not been able to confirm.

Firefighters told Fox11 that at one point they had to call in police because a homeless person came and burst their sprinklers.

One nearby resident who lives across the street from the fire told KTLA “I heard screaming from outside coming from the street. Cars on the freeway honking. I thought my building was on fire. I could feel the heat through the windows in my living room.”

She says she’s not surprised by what happened and had warned the city that something like this could happen due to the homeless.

“They have not listened to us,” she continued. “We have been abandoned and now this is where we are. We have neighbors in the hospital. I am besides myself.”

Arson investigators will look into the cause of the fire.