By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter
A fire broke out on the 1500 block of Michael Lane in The Highlands on Friday, Feb. 16, at around 6 p.m. after the garage of a three-story condo burst into flames.
“Fire rapidly extended vertically within the walls of the two floors above moving into the attic,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
“Crews quickly employed a coordinated fire attack and ventilation operation to extinguish the flames while stopping the spread of fire to adjoining structures and brush area.”
LAFD Stations 69 and 23, along with a fleet of other LAFD units, responded to the scene within minutes and knocked down the fire by 7:05 p.m.
A woman and her daughter were reportedly inside the condo when it caught fire but were uninjured.
The blaze reportedly started after the battery of an electric BMW exploded, adding to what some see as a trend of BMW car fires. In 2017, ABC news reported that some 40 “Beamer” batteries have spontaneously ignited in one year.
Firing back, BMW called the report “sensationalistic” in an interview with Automotive News.
“With approximately 4.9 million BMW vehicles on U.S. roads, fire incidents involving BMWs are extremely rare,” the company said to Automotive News. “BMW takes every incident very seriously and has a team dedicated to working with BMW owners, insurance companies and authorities to investigate vehicle fire incidents brought to our attention.”
Rare or not, the owner of the Michael Lane condo is now planning legal action against the car manufacturer.
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