Santa Monica Fire Extinguishes Garage Fire in 1900 Block of 19th Street

2.11.23: Two garages were damaged Saturday afternoon in a fire of uncertain cause. The Santa Monica Fire Dept. knocked down the blaze in about 5 minutes. From the SMFD:

Santa Monica Fire Department resources responded to a report of a Structure Fire at 1938 19th St. The first arriving Engine reported smoke and flames coming from the rear garage area of an apartment building.

Crews quickly began fire suppression and systematically searched the occupancies of the building. The fire and smoke communicated to the adjacent garages severely damaging two of them.

Smoke also communicated to the 4 rear residences and crews were able to utilize positive pressure ventilation to clear them. There were no civilian injuries however one resident was displaced due to smoke damage to their unit.

A fire investigator was called to the scene to do a preliminary investigation. So Cal Edison and the Gas Company were requested to re-establish service. --Walter R. Patton, Captain Training Division, Santa Monica Fire Department.

Update 1.15.23: I would like to share that there are at least two GoFundMe scams related to an article you published about a Santa Monica fire on February 11, 2023. One of the scams has been reported to GoFundMe.

Please see the following - Heidi Bowman the gofundme page organizer, states that her home was destroyed in a fire and that she lost everything they owned. The fire was covered by a local newspaper https://www.smobserved.com/story/2023/02/15/crime/santa-monica-fire-extinguishes-garage-fire-in-1900-block-of-19th-street/7433.html?m=true . The fire was contained to two of the attached four car garages and none of the apartments were directly involved in the fire. The tenant was relocated while the property was professionally cleaned for smoke and checked for fire wall damage along with one other tenant. Ms. Bowman claims that she lost everything in her home as asked for support through this funding source.

The City of Santa Monica has a Structure Fire report on record that details the impact of the fire. The incident number is 23002249 and confirm that the fire was only in the garage area.