1 Injured After Jumping from Second Story Fire in Toluca Lake

A fire gutted a two-story apartment building under construction in the Toluca Lake area today, damaging an adjacent apartment complex and sending two people, including a firefighter, to the hospital, authorities said.

The blaze was reported about 12:20 p.m. in the 4600 block of Riverton Avenue, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.

A woman in her mid-30s who jumped from the second story of the adjacent building that caught fire was assessed at the scene and declined hospital treatment.

A 36-year-old woman from across the street suffered smoke inhalation and was in stable condition at a hospital and a firefighter was taken to a hospital for treatment of a “non-traumatic” injury, Stewart said.

The building under construction was quickly engulfed in flames, forcing firefighters into a “defensive operation” to keep the fire from spreading, Stewart said.

It spread to at least two units of a three-story apartment building next door, however, and firefighters actively battled those flames, she said.

About 125 firefighters extinguished the flames in “just over one hour,” Stewart said. The cause of the fire was under investigation. A damage estimate was not immediately available.

Several parked vehicles were damaged, at least some of them by radiant heat from the fire.

City News Service