Gas Fireplace Blazes Damages Apartment, Displaces Tenants; Fire Dept. Urges Public to Safety Check Furnaces and Fireplaces

An unintentional gas fireplace exhaust vent malfunction caused a fire that caused an estimated $70,000 in damages to a three-story apartment building on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Del Mar Blvd. in Pasadena Monday night.

Pasadena Fire Department Spokesperson Lisa Derderian said the fire damaged a unit in the building located in the 300 block of E. Del Mar Blvd. and displaced the unit’s occupant.

All other tenants who were earlier evacuated were able to return safely to their units after the fire.

The fire department received the first call about the fire at about 8:20 p.m. and immediately dispatched personnel. While enroute, fire units were informed that the tenant was reporting a possible fire behind the fireplace in her unit.

Firefighters arrived at the scene by 8:23 p.m. and saw fire showing from the roof of the building.

Derderian said the first team immediately started an interior and roof attack on the fire while ordering an evacuation of the building.

With help from three other fire engines, the firefighters were able to put the fire under control by 8:34 p.m., 11 minutes after the first unit’s arrival on scene.

After the fire, personnel started salvage and clean-up operations on the affected unit while advising other tenants it was safe to return to the building.

The fire caused about $60,000 worth of damage to the structure and about $10,000 in the contents of the unit.

A total of 29 fire fighters were on scene, including a team from the South Pasadena Fire Department, with two battalion chiefs and one deputy fire chief leading the operations.

Derderian said with the malfunction in the gas fireplace exhaust vent being seen as the cause of the fire, people should make sure a safety check is done before using fireplaces and heaters for the first time this winter.