Highland Park Vault Fire Displaces 40 Residents in Los Angeles

A fire in the electrical room of a three-story apartment building in Highland Park, a neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, forced about 40 people out of their homes on the morning of Thursday, Oct. 8. Nobody was hurt, but the blaze knocked out power to the building and surrounding blocks, leaving residents without a place to stay while repairs were made.

What happened

The fire began in an electrical vault that holds the utility meters serving the building's apartments, according to local reports. The building sits on Meridian Street near Avenue 56, and one report places it at 5618 E. Meridian St. The call came in at 4:16 a.m., and the Los Angeles Fire Department had the fire knocked down at roughly 4:30 a.m., according to a report that cited MyNewsLA. Crews went inside and fought it from the interior.

Residential floors sit over a parking area. Reports said fire put a unit upstairs and an office on the ground floor at risk before crews extinguished it. No injuries were reported to residents or to firefighters.

Why 40 people had to leave

In this case the flames themselves were limited, but the loss of electricity was not. Because the vault feeds the meters for the whole building, the fire shut off power to the apartments and to the surrounding community. Local reports said about 40 residents were displaced because of that outage. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was notified, and the American Red Cross was asked to assist the people affected.

The utility later told customers in a statement that its crews had completed repairs and restored power to the community. The reports we reviewed did not say when residents of the building were able to return to their apartments, and they did not say whether the building itself needed any repairs before it could be reoccupied.

Cause and open questions

Officials have not announced what caused the fire inside the vault. One of the reports noted that the incident follows other underground-vault problems in Los Angeles in recent weeks, including a vault fire near LAX on Sept. 21 that caused an outage in Westchester. A forensic engineer quoted by FOX 11 said aging equipment is a common factor in this type of incident, but authorities have not confirmed the causes of those earlier events, and nothing published so far ties the Highland Park fire to any particular defect. Until fire investigators or the utility say more, the cause should be treated as unknown.

What this means for renters

Most tenants think of apartment fires as something that starts in a kitchen or a bedroom. This incident is a reminder that building systems the resident never touches, such as meter rooms, electrical panels and utility vaults, can also fail and take a home out of use. A few practical points follow.

• Ask about loss-of-use coverage. A renters insurance policy may pay for a hotel or other temporary housing when a covered event makes your apartment unlivable. Policies differ on what counts as a covered event and on how a utility outage is treated, so read the wording or call your insurer before you need it.
• Keep a go-bag. Medications, chargers, ID, a few days of clothes and important phone numbers are the items displaced residents most often wish they had grabbed.
• Document your belongings now. A short phone video of each room makes any later claim easier, including claims for food that spoils during a long outage.
• Know who to call. If a fire or outage displaces you, contact your property manager in writing, ask when the unit will be habitable again, and keep receipts for any extra costs.
• Report warning signs early. Burning smells, buzzing, flickering lights or warm panels in common electrical areas should be reported to management right away, and to the utility or fire department if there is any immediate danger.

Tenants in California who are displaced by damage to a building may have rights that depend on the lease and on how severe the damage is, including questions about rent during the period they cannot live in the unit. Those details vary by situation, so displaced residents can check with a local tenant organization or legal aid office.

The Red Cross can help people after a home fire with short-term needs. Residents who were affected and need help can contact the local chapter.