Fire Strikes Long Beach Apartment Building — Again

A second fire in less than a week broke out at an apartment building in Long Beach Monday night. 

Firefighters found, battled and extinguished a fire on the second floor of the building at 315 W. Broadway during the 11 p.m. hour, according to the Long Beach Fire Department.

At 11:10, the LBFD received a call about smoke in the building, and once on the scene firefighters were met with smoke on the second floor. 

Due to the age of the structure, firefighters had to open walls and ceilings to adjoining apartments to check for fire extension.

“Once the base of the fire was located, members of the fire department advanced a hose line and began to extinguish the fire,” Chief Rich Corbett said.

Once the fire was extinguished, members of the Long Beach Police Department escorted residents to their apartments to retrieve essential items. No injuries were reported, and approximately 50 people and their animals were evacuated from the building and temporarily houses in two buses that were sent to the scene. Island Park, Point Lookout-Lido, Atlantic Beach and Lawrence-Cedarhurst fire departments assisted.

The West Broadway apartment building, at the northwest corner of Lafayette Boulevard, was the scene of a fire on June 21. That fire erupted in the walls of a bedroom closet of a second-floor apartment, apparently caused by an electrical problem, at about 3 p.m., Corbett said. About 75 firefighters responded to the scene and brought it under control in about 10 minutes. No injuries were reported.

“Due to the fact that this was the second electrical fire within one week,” Corbett said about Monday night’s fire, “it was decided that the building was unsafe to live in so electricity was cut off,”

The Red Cross was requested to respond and assisted approximately 20 families with temporary housing.