House Fire Spreads to Nearby Home

Updated at 11:39 a.m. Aug. 26, 2012

An East End house fire that spread to a home behind it prompted a response from the Long Beach Fire Department and several other neighboring fire departments early Sunday morning.

According to LBFD officials, the first call came in at 1:35 a.m. from a homeowner about a fire at 122 Roosevelt Blvd., where a smoke alarm went off. The fire spread to a home at 123 Taft Ave., located directly behind the Roosevelt Boulevard residence.

Chief Richard Corbett ordered a call for a second alarm and the Island Park, Point Lookout-Lido, Baldwin and Oceanside fire departments operated at the scene of the two houses.

Corbett said when firefighters arrived at the fires were in advanced stages at the rear of both homes, and that the original blaze appears to have started next to a propane tank on a porch at the Roosevelt home.

“It started to heat up the propane tank and the release vale of the propane tank let go, which basically has a blow-torch effect and had blow it right into the house, so the fire was very advanced when we got there,” Corbett said.

It took firefighters approximately 40 minutes to contain the fires and one firefighter was treated at Long Beach Medical Center for a facial laceration and released, according to Corbett.

A couple in the Roosevelt Boulevard residence and a family of four — including two small children — in the Taft Avenue home, were all able to escape the blazes unharmed.

Additional information provided by Bill Bennett.