Hundreds of firefighters and multiple emergency response helicopters converged on a 25-story high-rise in Brentwood, California on Wednesday morning after a massive fire broke out on the sixth floor, sending smoke billowing out as onlookers watched in alarm from the streets. Early reports indicate that eight people were treated as a result of the fire, including two adults who reportedly suffered critical injuries.
According to officials from the Los Angeles Fire Department, the fire broke out at just after 8:30 a.m. at the Barrington Plaza residential building, located at 11740 Wilshire Blvd., and was finally extinguished just before 10 a.m. By the time the fire was put down, eight people were injured and a section of the sixth story utterly destroyed, but as reports from the scene have made clear, the impact of the fire could have been far worse had the response not been so swift and thorough.
“Two adults were critically injured after a massive fire tore through part of a high-rise in the Brentwood area Wednesday morning, the same building which was the site of a fire more than six years ago,” CBS Los Angeles reports. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey told CBS that the fire began on the sixth floor.
Video posted on social media taken by an onlooker from across the street shows the dramatic scene:
Fire on Wilshire & #Barrington outside my office in #Brentwood pic.twitter.com/T5fA4WaAdZ
— jack kensington (@jackkensington) January 29, 2020
Along with 335 firefighters, four emergency response helicopters were sent to the scene, where they rescued over a dozen residents who fled to the roof.
“These emergency workers are heroes,” wrote Rosy Cordero, who posted video of the rooftop rescue on Twitter. “Wow, this is a building on fire in Brentwood with people trapped in the residential building.”
In the end, a reported fifteen people were rescued by the helicopters, which transported them to the helipad at West L.A. Veterans Affairs Medical Center, according to officials.
These emergency workers are heroes. Wow, this is a building on fire in Brentwood with people trapped in the residential building. It’s on Wilshire and Stone near Barrington. #emergency pic.twitter.com/2Gule1wdNT
— Rosy Cordero (@SocialRosy) January 29, 2020
“There were initially unconfirmed reports that people may have been forced to jump out of the building,” CBS reports. “Aerial footage showed at least one person standing outside a window. However, in a morning briefing, LAFD Deputy Chief Armando Hogan told reporters that there were no jumpers.”
Hogan explained in the press conference that firefighters managed to convince the person seen “hanging off the ledge that was contemplating jumping” to wait for responders. The firefighters were able to get there quickly enough to bring the individual down safely.
Humphrey told the press that the department placed inflatable air cushions on the ground just in case some were tempted to jump, but did not end up needing to use them.
Officials told CBS that a total of eight people were treated, mostly for smoke inhalation, including a thee-month old child. Two of the adult victims are being treated for “critical injuries.”
While the sixth floor appears to have borne the brunt of the fire, Hogan said that floors 5 through 8 were also impacted, CBS reports, noting that the building, constructed in 1961, does not have a sprinkler system and is not required to because of its age.
This report has been updated to include more details about the incident and revised for clarity.