Crime & Safety

House Fire on 700 Block of Kingman Ave. Thursday Morning

Firefighters battled flames in wooded residential section, south from Sunset Boulevard, that dead-ends into Riviera Country Club, site of next week's PGA tour.

[UPDATE: 8:00 a.m. Thursday] The fire on the 700 block of Kingman Avenue near the Riviera Country Club has officially been deemed knocked down and put out.

Firefighters appear to be wrapping up containing a fire at a three-story home on the 700 block of Kingman Avenue in town, off of Sunset Boulevard. The block dead-ends into , site of the prestigious golf tournament Northern Trust Open Feb. 15 through 20.

The call came in at 6:45 a.m. Thursday morning from the 700 block fo Kingman Ave. The flames were burning on the roof of the home in a neighborhood that straddles the border of Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica.

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"Firefighters are on scene," said Capt. Jaime Moore of the LAFD. "Firefighters are doing everything to battle the fire. The homeowners are safe at this time."

The fire appears to be coming from the crawlspace. The smoke, a mighty plume hanging in the air above the Riviera section of the Palisades, has turned white, which is a great sign. Eucalyptus trees are slowing the efforts to ventilate the roof.

Find out what's happening in Pacific Palisadeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Capt. Jaime Moore, LAFD: "We have a very strong brush clearance program...those leaves [eucalyptus near burning home] present a hazard."

"The smoke is dissipating," Moore said, as five firefighters on the roof of the home attacked it with axes at 7:30 a.m. "It's being ventilated through the holes that the firefighters have made on the roof...[causing] heat and hot gases to escape...all of that is under control."

Palisadians are recommended to not drive in the area if possible until the firemen contain the fire.

The unstable, two-story home stands across the street from the Modernist abode at 757 Kingman Ave., a renowned house that was built for Golden Age actress Dolores Del Rio by her husband, set designer Cedric Austin Gibbons. In 1930, Gibbons married actress Dolores del Rio and co-designed their house in Santa Monica, an intricate Art Deco residence influenced by Rudolf Schindler. Gibbons was one of the original 36 founding members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He oversaw the design of the Academy Awards Oscar statuette in 1929, a trophy he received 39 nominations for (winning 11 of them—second only to Walt Disney, who garnered 26). 


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