Yesterday around 4:30 I was working at home with Marjorie and my sister Alex. We heard a popping and a bang coming from upstairs. We weren't sure what it was and almost chose to ignore it. I walked to the back door and saw water coming into my place and smoke off the porch above me. Outside I saw huge orange flames shooting from the laundry room. I ran back into the apartment, screaming, "FIRE!!!, get out!!" I called 911 and ran upstairs to my neighbor's place. I heard her leave a few minutes before the fire started so I knew she was safe, but there were animals in the house. I bolted up the stairs and didn't see any fire, thought for a minute I was overreacting and had called the fire dept for no reason. Then I saw the smoke and flames in the kitchen. The dogs were gone, so I grabbed her turtle from his tank and flew down the stairs to help Marjorie and Alex. I had no idea what to take, where anything valuable was or what to do until the fire dept arrived. My brain shut down, I could hardly move. Read more

Earlier today an electrical fire started in the apartment above mine. 7 fire trucks and 30 firemen put the fire out and an enormous hole in the roof. My apartment is intact, but the extent of the water damage has yet to be determined.

I’m not sure yet, what I’m going to be dealing with, so if we had plans this week - they may be postponed.

Thank you for all the tweets, calls and emails with offers to help. My furniture and clothes are in good shape, however - I may need to find a place to work for a few weeks while the apartment is being worked on.

UPDATE:

This morning the LAist published a story about yesterday’s events as they played out on twitter.

*the fire was not started by a dryer as I assumed, but by faulty wiring in a porch light that was not even on.

Marjorie took these photos just after the fire was put out.