Crime & Safety
Firefighters Chase String of Arson Incidents in Hollywood
Authorities are seeking more information from the community about the early-morning blazes.
Several cars parked in carports were set ablaze in Hollywood and West Hollywood early Friday morning in about a dozen arson fires that threatened apartment dwellers and prompted Los Angeles police to go on tactical alert.
A Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter suffered non-life-threatening injuries in one of the fires—at 8021 Rothdell Trail in the Hollywood Hills, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. He said the fire, reported at 1:18 a.m., started in a vehicle, then spread to the home's exterior and a balcony and was extinguished in 35 minutes by 56 firefighters.
Neighbors said Jim Morrison of the Doors once lived at the Rothdell Trail property with his girlfriend Pamela Courson.
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Another vehicle fire that spread to a building occurred at 1156 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Humphrey said. He said it started with four cars being set on fire at about 2:40 a.m. and was extinguished by 32 firefighters in 18 minutes.
A vehicle fire also was reported at 4:03 a.m. at 1439 N. Poinsettia Place and threatened nearby apartments for a time, he said.
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L.A. fire Battalion Chief Greg Gibson said firefighters in Hollywood called up reinforcements this morning from units in the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
In addition to the incidents officially reported, news camera crews shot footage of fires overnight in the 1700 block of Orange Drive, at Hollywood Boulevard and Bronson Avenue, in the 1800 block of Vine Street, the 1200 block of McCadden Place and the 1300 block of Citrus Avenue.
In West Hollywood, "we had four fires of suspicious nature," said Lt. William Nash of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's West Hollywood Station. "At one point we had three vehicle fires reported within 11 minutes."
Those fires were reported between 12:23 a.m. and 2:09 a.m., Nash said. They were at 7762 Romaine St., 1047 Genesee Ave., 1200 Curson Ave. and 1226 Harper Ave., he said.
In response to the fires, the Los Angeles Police Department declared a tactical alert in the Operations-West Bureau at about 4:20 a.m., allowing supervisors to keep officers over beyond the end of their shifts.
Two suspects were arrested in connection with similar fires Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Do you have information for fire investigators regarding the fires Friday morning in Hollywood? Call the LAFD Arson Hotline at 213-893-9800.
