[symple_googlemap title=”Gaviota fire” location=”6700 block of Gaviota Avenue, Los Angeles, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”15″]
A 56-year-old man suffered second-degree burns to his feet and chest Sunday as a fire caused by a faulty fireplace gutted much of a two-story Van Nuys home not equipped with working smoke alarms, authorities said.
The fire was reported at 3:12 p.m. in the 6700 block of Gaviota Avenue, Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
The second floor was engulfed in flames when the first of 45 responding firefighters arrived to the scene, Humphrey said.
It took 25 minutes to knock down the flames, Humphrey said.
The injured man — who was in fair condition — was sleeping when the fire broke out, Humphrey said.
The fire did $116,000 in damage — $75,000 to the structure, $40,000 to its contents and another $1,000 to the eaves of a neighboring home, he said, adding that the cause of the blaze was a faulty fireplace.
— City News Service