Separate Fires Damage Two Buildings on Wednesday

Firefighters in Pasadena were busy on Wednesday as two structural blazes erupted.

First a complex of empty buildings was destroyed by a first alarm blaze at 170 N. Halstead Street, near Fire Station 37 shortly before 2 a.m.

Firefighters knocked down the fire in about 40 minutes, and no one was hurt in the fire. The cause of that blaze is still under investigation.

This is the second fire at the location this month, according to  a document obtained by Pasadena Now.

It is not known how much property damage the two blazers caused.

The building is known to be abandoned with frequent transient occupancy.

After the blaze was extinguished, city officials were summoned to evaluate the condition of the remaining buildings on the property and with recent fire activity, declared the property to be a public nuisance and immediate threat to public health and safety, the determination was made to demolish the remaining buildings which all suffered damage from past and current fires with various degrees of structural compromise.

The fire also caused severe damage to multiple storage containers and equipment on a Pasadena Water Department property next door.

In the second blaze, firefighters received calls of a two alarm fire shortly after noon at the Pasadena Salvation Army on Del Mar Boulevard.

About 20 people were inside the store at 56 W. Del Mar Ave. and fled when the fire erupted outside around 12:15 p.m.,

The fire which was burned outside the structure was fueled by cardboard boxes and donated goods outside the building. Fire fighters went into a defensive mode and managed to save the structure.

According to city spokesperson Lisa Derderian the cardboard boxes were outside the building because more people are making donations at the facility since it reopened after being shut down as part of the Safer at Home order issues at the beginning of the Coronavirus.

More than 75 fire personnel were on scene to fight the blaze from several departments. No one was injured in the fire.

The fire was extinguished about an hour later. Fire fighters remained on the scene for a few hours to sift through the debris and ensure there were no flare ups.

“Thousands of pounds of donated goods served as fuel for today’s Salvation Army fire,” the city of Pasadena later tweeted. “However, the quick work of firefighters managed to save the structure. THANK YOU to our neighboring fire departments and @CountyofLA for their assistance.”