Fire starts in pipe at Levering apartment

  JENNIFER YUEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Jorge
Ostrovsky walks up Levering Avenue Friday after examining
a fire.

By Jennifer Yuen
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Firefighters contained a small fire in a Westwood apartment
complex Friday around 5:30 p.m.

Eight fire trucks lined the corner of Levering and Midvale
Avenues, responding to a small fire in a carport at an apartment
complex on 650 Levering Avenue.

According to Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Rick Gregory, the
fire started inside a wood beam that contains pipes over the
carport.

Resident Dave Denicke, ’00 alumnus, made the 911 call
after alarms in the building awoke him from his nap.

“I don’t know when I woke up, but I heard the alarms
and smelled smoke in the building,” he said.

Residents and neighbors gathered outside and waited as the cause
of the fire was determined.

With no flames evident from the exterior of the complex,
bystanders were confused about where the fire was.

The alarms and fire trucks outside startled third-year
communications student Rowena Ocampo, another resident in the
complex.

“It was a bit smoky, but I didn’t sense any heat.
(We) tried asking the firefighters what was wrong, but they
didn’t say anything,” she said. “So we
weren’t sure if everything was OK or not.”

There were no injuries or major damage in the complex.

“Finding the fire was causing the most damage,”
Gregory said. “We entered a smoke-filled room, unsure of the
source of fire.”

“We had to dig around for fire using a thermal imaging
(heat-seeking) camera, tearing up flooring, plaster, and
piping,” he continued.

Earlier in the day, plumbing work had been done and the pipes
were soldered.

“Hot spots were still evident on the pipes which, over
time, started burning up inside the wood,” Gregory said.
“Smoldering remained and became fire.”

The fire was localized in one area and burned a hole from the
carport up into a closet in Denicke’s apartment.

The owner of the complex could not be reached for comment.