Two houses and 1 garage destroyed in South Pasadena fire

Two houses and 1 garage destroyed in South Pasadena fire

by Jonah Valdez

An intense fire that burned for nearly an hour on Wednesday gutted two South Pasadena homes, collapsing the roof of one of them, authorities said.

The first fire crews to arrive at about 3 p.m. were met with flames and heavy columns of smoke shooting into the sky as both homes and a garage burned, said South Pasadena Fire Chief Paul Riddle.

The blaze, the cause of which appears to have been accidental, destroyed the detached garage along with the two houses in the 700 block of Charter Oak Street, he said.

There were no injuries reported in the fire and all residents were accounted for, Riddle said. A pair of cats were trapped inside one of the homes, but survived the blaze. Two more cats had escaped the flames.

Forty-five firefighters from South Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Los Angeles and San Gabriel poured into the area to prevent the intense blaze from spreading to surrounding homes, Riddle said. The roof of one of the homes collapsed, trapping some of the flames beneath the rubble and complicating the fight.

“It was a very stubborn fire, ’cause we couldn’t get water directly on some of the flames,” Riddle said.

The houses burned for about 45 minutes.

After extinguishing an aggressive fire that gutted two homes in South Pasadena, SPFD firefighters found two cats inside, wet, scared and alive! (Video courtesy of South Pasadena Fire Department) pic.twitter.com/6Ar2gxGiHU

— Jonah Valdez (@Jonahmv) August 22, 2019

Residents told firefighters that four cats lived inside one of the houses. Firefighters said they saw two cats running out of the home as the fired burned, but two more remained inside.

Once the fire had subsided, firefighters were able to enter the wobbly structure and found the two cats alive.

“They were wet and scared, but looked in pretty good shape,” Riddle said.

The two residents — one in each home — displaced by the fire were expected to collect items from their homes and had a place to stay for the evening.

All credit goes to Jonah Valdez Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com