By Erich Roden
In May 2013, Los Angeles (CA) Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters responded to an intense fire inside a three-story hillside home in Sherman Oaks, California. On arrival of the first-arriving fire companies, flames were visible out of four windows on the C side of the building. Seventeen fire companies, five rescue ambulances, four battalion command teams, three EMS battalion captains, and two urban search and rescue companies controlled the fire in approximately one hour. The loss was estimated at $260,000, and the cause was under investigation by the LAFD Arson Investigation Unit.
The private dwelling (fire building) was built on a hillside, creating a street-level entrance on the A side of the fire building with two sublevels descending into the hill on the C side. The fire was in the first sublevel, or one floor below street level, thereby presenting arriving firefighters with a severe below-grade fire. As a result, this created an immediate and probable life hazard on arrival for any victims occupying the bedrooms on the floor above.
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