Late-night Fire in North Long Beach deemed arson

Just after 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night, Long Beach Fire Department responded to a report of a structure fire at 1821 E. 68th Street. When they arrived at the scene, firefighters found the fire showing from an apartment on the first floor of a two-story garden style apartment building.

Firefighters began an aggressive interior attack to knockdown the fire and contain it within the original apartment.  Fire crews conducted a thorough search of the involved apartment and confirmed that all occupants of the unit made it out safely.

Prior to fire department arrival, two occupants of an upstairs apartment were forced to leap from a second story window to escape the fire that was rapidly spreading and exposing their apartment.  A 37-year-old male was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.  The other occupant that leapt from the upstairs unit was not injured and did not require medical evaluation.

Four families—with members ranging from 6 to 47 years old—were displaced from four different apartments and the Red Cross was called to provide shelter and offer assistance.

Long Beach Fire Department considers this an arson fire.  Arson investigators ask that anyone with any information regarding this fire contact them on the arson tip hotline at (562)570-2582.