Three major early-morning fires in Pacific Palisades last week left residents shaken, but thankful for quick responses by firefighters. The first fire broke out at 1 a.m. on February 16, in an empty house in the 700 block of Haverford, where a remodel had recently begun. Next door, Cynthia Sambeat was working on taxes in the lower level of her home when she smelled something burning. After walking through the house to see if anything was on fire, she looked outside, but didn’t see anything. About 15 minutes later, she heard a man yelling from the street. ‘Help! Anyone?! Fire!” ‘I ran upstairs, and out the back door to the side of our home next to our neighbors and saw smoke pouring out of the house,’ Cynthia told the Palisadian-Post. ‘I called 911.’ After she woke up her husband Angelo, the former owner of Dante restaurant on Swarthmore, the couple went outside and saw that the fire was within 10 feet of their home. Their back patio, which has a roof attached to their home like a greenhouse, runs the length of the house and was adjacent to the burning home. Cynthia was worried that it might ignite, but fortunately it was a calm night, with no wind. ‘By the time firefighters arrived, the house had smoke coming out along the entire roof line and the sparks were shooting up from the vents,’ Cynthia said.”It was very scary.’ According to Fire Station 69 Captain Mike Ketaily, firefighters responding included Engine 23, Task Force 63 (Venice); Engine 19 (Brentwood); Engine 59 (Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles); and Light Force 69. ‘There was a fire in the furnace that extended into the attic,’ Ketaily said. ‘We cut holes in the roof to access the flames.’ ‘The firemen put it out quickly and stayed a long time to make sure it was safe,’ Cynthia Sambeat said. ‘They were wonderful.’ She said the two-bedroom, single-story house, which had been owned by the Harrington family for more than 30 years, had recently been sold and that the new owners’ architect had presented plans to the Pacific Palisades Civic League review board. ‘We feel very lucky that it wasn’t a windy night and that a neighbor happened to be walking by before it was too late,’ Cynthia said, noting that the man had told her that he hadn’t been able to sleep and had gone for a late-night walk. Battalion 9 Chief James Cairns said that the fire started in the floor furnace located in the living room, which then ignited the sub-flooring. o o o Two nights later, a fire broke out in a three-story, single-family home in the 1400 block of Marinette Road at 1:28 a.m. ‘It was a chimney fire that got into the walls on the first and second floor,’ Ketaily said, noting that smoke detectors in the home alerted residents of the fire, so they were able to escape and alert the fire department. Responding were Engine and Rescue 23; Light Force and Rescue 69; Engine 19 and 59; and Task Force 37 (Westwood). Cairns explained that in many newer homes, fireplaces are built of wood and then framed with sheet metal. ‘The reason for that construction is that people are getting away from the masonry fireplaces because the zero-clearance fireplaces are more earthquake-resistant,’ Cairns said, noting that unfortunately the sheet metal flue has seams, and heat or possibly a spark can get into the wood and set it on fire. Firefighters stayed at the location, adjacent to Will Rogers State Park, into the early morning. o o o While local firefighters were fighting the Marinette blaze, a second fire was reported an hour later by a motorist traveling on Pacific Coast Highway, who spotted the blaze at 6 Kontiki Way, below the Asilomar bluffs. According to one Tahitian Terrace resident, ‘The fire was fully engaged with the deck, the deck supports and had spread to the ground cover just beneath the decking.’ Neighbors Grace and Vernon Wells were asleep in the home next door when they heard sirens. ‘At first, I thought it was the paramedics,’ Grace said, ‘but then I heard trucks and pounding on my neighbor’s door.’ When the couple went into the street, they saw their neighbor safely outside and the fire on his deck. ’It was scary, with a lot of smoke,’ Grace said. ‘Thank God for that person on PCH who called 911.’ She told the Post that the owner believed that maybe a spark or an ember from the chimenea (outdoor barbeque/fireplace) on his deck may have started the fire, but Cairns said the cause was listed as undetermined. Fire units responding were Engine 62 (Mar Vista); Engine and Rescue 63; Light Force 26 (West Adams); Engine 94 (Crenshaw); and Rescue 19. ’The firefighters were great’and nice and polite, too,’ Grace said. o o o ’We get to fires quickly and try to put them out just as quickly, but in every fire there’s a bit of luck,’ said Captain Ketaily, who noted that the lucky factor in these fires was lack of wind. He reminded residents to make sure smoke detectors are working. ‘We usually ask people to check them twice a year, when they are adjusting clocks for Daylight Saving Time.’ He said Palisadians should also have a fire evacuation plan. ’Make sure your family has a meeting place,’ Ketaily said, noting that when his children were little, their meeting place was a mailbox outside their house. ‘My wife hated it, but I set off the smoke alarm one night and my kids all went to the mailbox. I can’t tell you how that gave me peace of mind.’
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