A fire broke out at a multifamily residence on The Strand in El Porto around 10 a.m. Monday morning. Although part of the house was significantly damaged, no one appeared to be injured.
“If the fire had been there on a different day, it could have been catastrophic,” said Manhattan Beach Police Chief Robert Espinosa. “The houses are so dense there, if it was a windy day, it easily could have spread from home to home.”
The fire appeared to have started in the garage at 4416-4418 The Strand, the second property over from 45th Street.
MBPD, with the assistance of fire departments from Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Los Angeles County, had the fire out within 15 minutes, according to Espinosa. The response included 11 fire engines, two fire trucks, three ambulances and four battalion chiefs.
The four-person family living in the studio next to the garage escaped unharmed and was able to retrieve many of their belongings, according to a neighbor, Bob Sievers of Shorewood Realtors, who used to live in the building.
“I ran down there panicked,” said Sievers. “I thought my friends might be in there, and I would pull them out of there. The whole thing was engulfed in flames.”
Sievers had been at home when a friend called to tell him, “Your place is on fire.” At first, Sievers thought his friend, a surfer, meant the surfing conditions.
“He said, ‘No, I mean it’s really on fire,’” said Sievers.
The Pettys, whom Sievers identified on Facebook as the family in the studio, would probably be staying with him for the evening, he said. The family couldn’t be reached Monday afternoon.
Another one of the building’s residents, Robert Lambert, was home when the fire started.
“The power went off, which isn’t necessarily new,” said Lambert. “We stuck our heads out we saw the garage was on fire. There’s space between our places and the garage, so we weren’t too worried about our stuff.”
The cause wasn’t known as of Tuesday afternoon. It would be difficult to determine, Espinosa said, because the garage and the cars inside contained hazardous materials that fire investigators typically look for.
“They’re trying to pinpoint the origin, but literally everything was incinerated,” said Espinosa.
People familiar with the property described the building as old and not in good condition. According to the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office, the four-unit building was built in 1940. The land is valued around $4 million.
A spokesperson from the assessor’s office identified the owner as Metropolitan Investments LLC and Robert Abernethy. According to trade publications, Abernethy owns a Southern California storage company, the Self Storage Management Company, and sits on the board of several prominent institutions, including Loyola Marymount University and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, according to those institutions’ websites. Calls to Abernethy weren’t returned.
Sievers said that the garage was destroyed, but that thanks to the fire department’s quick work, the fire didn’t spread.
“I thought the whole building was going to go up, but it was contained to that structure,” said Sievers, who moved to a nearby house two years ago.
One of the upstairs units was for rent, according to Sievers.
Five cars which were in the garage were destroyed, according to Lambert, including his 1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia. His father brought the car from Australia when the family moved, and Lambert was in the process of fixing it up.
“He died two years ago and I was restoring it in his memory,” said Lambert. “When I was born, I came home from the hospital in it. I thought about running in to save it, but it was funeral fire. Nothing was coming out alive.” ER
