Long Beach Firefighters Snuff out Blaze on 11th Floor of High Rise

LONG BEACH - A fire on the 11 th floor of the Galaxy Tower condominium complex Saturday caused no injuries but evoked painful memories of a fatal 2007 blaze at the 20-story Ocean Boulevard high-rise.

 

In March of last year, resident John Carlyle Crews, 60, plunged to his death during a fire on the 18 th floor.

According to Long Beach Fire Department, the Saturday blaze, which began in the kitchen area of the unit, was contained and extinguished quickly.

“The call came in about 12:15 p.m. and within 10 to 11 minutes the fire was knocked down,” said Joshua Johnson of the LBFD.

Rescue workers evacuated everyone above the 11 th floor and told everyone below to remain indoors, Johnson said.

The occupant, Myra Steiner, in her early 70 s, was reportedly in the bathroom when the fire started in her kitchen. She did not know the cause, Johnson said.

 

According to Johnson, neighbors helped the woman to safety. There were no injuries.

“Makes you very uneasy now that there have been two fires,” said Jackie Urquiza, 21, a Cal State Long Beach student who moved into the building in January and lives on the 18 th floor next to the apartment that burned last year.

“Our windows were open. There is soot in my bedroom (and) a sharp smell,” she said.

Despite the uneasy feeling, Urquiza isn’t planning on moving.

“I think because it’s the second fire they’ll be more assertive about doing something about it,” she said.

Urquiza and her roommate heard the fire alarm and took the elevator down to the first floor.”Firefighters were here in two minutes - really quick. They piled into elevators and pressurized the stairwells. We don’t have sprinklers,” she said.

Following last year’s blaze, a City Council Public Safety committee heard reports from fire authorities that called for older high-rise buildings in the city to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers, but the cost property owners would face remains a major issue.In May, during its second meeting to discuss proposed fire sprinkler requirements, the city’s Economic Development and Finance Committee seemed to have found a plan that would balance fire prevention and the financial cost to owners.

“I know that the No. 1 objective for our fire department is to keep us all safe in our homes and in our buildings, and the only way really to do that is through the use of fire sprinklers,” Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, the committee’s chair, said in a Press-Telegram story published in May.

“But we also recognize that there’s a great financial hardship related to that,” she said.

In June, the City Council approved changes in the building code that will require sprinklers in most new residential and commercial buildings, but referred the question of retrofitting older buildings to the committee.

The proposed fire code changes would require all existing multi-family residential buildings, hotels and motels that have 50 or more units to be retrofitted with fire-sprinkler systems within five years. Existing high-rise buildings would have to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers within 10 years.

Larry Py, a retired Los Angeles police officer, moved into the tower in 2007 after the last fire. He recently spent “a couple hundred thousand dollars” remodeling his unit.

“We would have had more damage in that building with sprinklers going off,” he said Saturday.

“This building does not need sprinklers department is to keep us all safe in our homes and in our buildings, and the only way really to do that is through the use of fire sprinklers,” Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, the committee’s chair, said in a Press-Telegram story published in May.

“But we also recognize that there’s a great financial hardship related to that,” she said.

In June, the City Council approved changes in the building code that will require sprinklers in most new residential and commercial buildings, but referred the question of retrofitting older buildings to the committee.

The proposed fire code changes would require all existing multi-family residential buildings, hotels and motels that have 50 or more units to be retrofitted with fire-sprinkler systems within five years. Existing high-rise buildings would have to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers within 10 years.

Larry Py, a retired Los Angeles police officer, moved into the tower in 2007 after the last fire. He recently spent “a couple hundred thousand dollars” remodeling his unit.

“We would have had more damage in that building with sprinklers going off,” he said Saturday.

West Coast 911 firefighter news source - The Daily Breeze/photos by Jeff Gritchen / read entire article