One Construction Site Fire Displaced 11 Neighbors

(Image courtesy of Citizen)

I’m tired.

Tomorrow makes thirteen straight days of work at my day job, so I’m physically rather tired.

My heart and soul, however, are exhausted.

I’m not sure it’s possible to adequately convey how tired I am of writing about preventable structure fires. More than half of the posts on this blog concern fires.

130 North Carondelet Street was a classic 1909 bungalow that needed a little love and a good restoration.

Was. Past tense.

Speculators bought 130 North Carondelet in 2022, had it torn down, and began construction on two three-story duplexes and an ADU.

Guess what caught on fire last night?

You guessed it: one of the unfinished duplexes. The fire spread to two neighboring duplexes, a single-family house, and two sheds.

Let me be clear: I’m all for adding infill housing. Packing the lot is a time-honored tradition in older Los Angeles neighborhoods from Chinatown to San Pedro. (Having said that, I personally would have kept the bungalow, moved it closer to the lot line, restored it, and built something more like a two-story Craftsman-influenced fourplex in the back.)

LAFD says that the duplexes were in the framing stage of construction. This isn’t the first time I’ve covered a building burning down while framing was in progress, and I’ve previously pointed out that when taller buildings catch fire, they can rain embers and ash on smaller buildings nearby.

One speculative project cost Los Angeles the original bungalow and damaged two neighboring duplexes, one neighboring house, and two detached sheds. NBC reports that two families (totaling 11 people) have been displaced and a neighbor’s car was destroyed.

Will there be any consequences for the speculators? Probably not. Accountability is all too rare in Los Angeles, particularly with real estate speculation.

And I’m tired of it.

130 North Carondelet Street, Westlake/Historic Filipinotown.