The fire that destroyed six homes and damaged a dozen others in Bel-Air last week was caused by a …
Cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked Bel-Air blaze that destroyed homes, officials say
The
fire that destroyed six homes and damaged a dozen others in Bel-Air
last week was caused by a cooking fire at a nearby homeless encampment,
Los Angeles fire officials said Tuesday.
For
a "number of years," homeless people had been living in a camp along
Sepulveda Boulevard where it passes under the 405 Freeway, Los Angeles
Fire Department spokesman Peter Sanders said.
Investigators
who inspected the encampment found evidence that people had been
cooking and sleeping in the area but did not find anyone there, Sanders
said. The department has no suspects, he said.
Los
Angeles has been struggling in recent years with a major uptick in the
homeless population, with encampments spreading out from downtown L.A.
into neighborhoods across the city. A report in May put the homeless
population in Los Angeles County at 58,000, a 23% increase over the last
year.
The
count found that the homeless population in the West L.A. service area —
which included the Bel-Air and Brentwood neighborhoods — increased from
4,659 to 5,511 in that period.
Officials said the size of the encampment where the blaze started was hard to determine because the area was burned.
"By
the time investigators got there everyone was gone," Peter Sanders, the
Los Angeles Fire Department communications director, said.
Almost
all the physical evidence at the scene was consumed by the blaze, he
added. Investigators were able to eliminate arson as a cause based on
was left of the encampment and place of origin of the flames, he added.
The National Park Service estimates that 90% of wildfires across the U.S. are caused by humans.
The
Skirball fire erupted early Wednesday, eating down the
chaparral-covered hillsides next to the 405, forcing the closure of the
important artery at rush hour.
In
less than a day, the blaze ate through more than 400 acres in Bel-Air.
Six homes were destroyed and a dozen more were damaged on Moraga Drive,
Casiano Road and Linda Flora Drive. The blaze forced the evacuations of a
large swath of the neighborhood, which is one of the most affluent in
the country.
The Skirball fire was 85% contained Tuesday, with 69 firefighters still working to mop up the operation, officials said.
For more transportation news, follow @laura_nelson on Twitter.
UPDATES:
2:30 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Peter Sanders.
1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with more information on homeless issues.
This story was first posted at 1:05 p.m.
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