I forgot to mention this on the blog although I tweeted it. The apartment next door to mine was on fire and when I took this photo, I had no idea that the fire was on my floor let alone next door to me. Soon after I took the photo I heard a lot of banging next door and then a few minutes later there were firemen in my apartment checking my walls for fire inside. I never smelled any smoke… the wind was blowing the wrong way or something. My cat freaked out.
The tenant’s brother showed up at the apartment next day to recover stuff and I got the story. Something was burning on the stove and whatever it was caught fire and then lit up a kitchen wall. A passerby saw smoke coming out of the window on Broadway and called 911. It could’ve been a LOT worse. So the ceiling was completely black and it stank like burnt plaster and plastic. A cat was inside while all this happened and she is fine.
Over the next few weeks and a lot of new sheetrock later, there are already new tenants in there making new neighbor sounds.
PS: The best collection of photos on the L.A. fires is at boston.com.