L.A. Firefighters Rescue Man Clinging to Burning High-Rise

LOS ANGELES, California — Firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) rescued a man clinging to the side of a burning high-rise on Wednesday morning in the heart of West Los Angeles.

The building, part of the Barrington Plaza complex, sits near Wilshire Boulevard, a major thoroughfare. A source told Breitbart News that the fire broke out in the early morning on the seventh floor — not the sixth, as widely reported.

The Los Angeles Times reported that there were reports of people jumping from the building to save their lives. There were eight reported injuries.

One man was seen clinging to the outside of a windowsill on the sixth floor as smoke and fire billowed from a balcony nearby. In a dramatic rescue, LAFD firefighters climbed a high ladder to retrieve him:

Fire on Wilshire & Barrinton outside our office #Brentwood pic.twitter.com/kI4nVUxYHr

— shir (@HereIsShir) January 29, 2020

Now Barrington Plaza has a Fire!! That’s my building. People heard an explosion!@KNX1070 @LAFD @DanielleGersh @local1014 @CBSLA @KFIAM640 pic.twitter.com/0RUHyZ88WL

— Steve Manak (@LA_trainr) January 29, 2020

Several residents were also rescued by helicopter, from the building’s roof:

Barrington Plaza fire: LAFD helicopter picked up people from roof and appeared to land at VA now LA Sheriff Helicopter making rescues. Seen here dropping off rescuer to assist. pic.twitter.com/HJgUhyTDbb

— David Murphy (@DavidCMurphy) January 29, 2020

It is not clear how the fire started, but the building does not have a sprinkler system, the Times reported, because it was built in 1962, before regulations required one. The building also suffered a fire in 2013.

High winds persisted in Los Angeles on Wednesday, creating additional risk for wildfires that can damage property and threaten lives. One such fire broke out last year in a wooded, hilly area north of the site of Wednesday’s fire and resulted in the evacuation of entire neighborhoods in the Brentwood area.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Photo: file