CF 14-168-S2 City Council Motion

On Monday, December 8, 2014, it has been estimated that 250 Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters responded to a fire at the under construction 526 unit DaVinci apartment complex at 1:20 a..m., which is located at the juncture of the Harbor and Hollywood freeways in Downtown Los Angeles. The fire destroyed the seven-story building, and while no one was injured, the damages are expected to be in the millions of dollars. In addition, adjacent buildings housing city and county offices were significantly damaged.

Several policy questions need to be addressed as a result of this massive fire, since its impacts have citywide implications as to how the city can effectuate improvements to the permitting and inspection process, to prevent future devastating damages to under construction development projects. It has been documented that the DaVinci project was being constructed with steel stairs rising three to four floors without any other floor plates or structure, much like the ruins left behind after the fire.

The tragedy of the DaVinci apartment complex, raises many policy questions that need to be addressed in a report by city staff.