Fire Damages House on Sunset Boulevard

By Sue Pascoe, Staff Writer

2009-12-17
A house fire on Friday night destroyed the family room, laundry room and kitchen at 14800 Sunset Blvd. (near Chautauqua), but the occupants were uninjured. Although firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to the rest of the U-shaped house, it still suffered heavy smoke damage.

As they waited for an insurance adjuster to arrive Monday morning, Alice and Robert Scheiperpeter, 52-year residents of Pacific Palisades, sorted through the melted and ashen remains of sofas, computers, a television set and other memorabilia that had been dragged out to their driveway.

Alice pointed to a melted piece of metal. 'This was my reader. It has a magnifier, so I can read.'

The fire may have been caused by an electrical malfunction involving a space heater located in the family room that had been converted from a garage. 'I think it was defective,' said Alice, adding that she had smelled something odd the past three days and that, in retrospect, the smell may have been the wiring.

On the night of the fire, Robert was in bed reading when the lights flickered. 'He went to check the fuse box, which was located in the family room, and saw the fire,' Alice said.

Nearby Station 69 received the 911 call at 8:05 p.m. 'When we arrived, there was fire coming out of the sliding glass doors,' firefighter Billy Barrera said. 'There was heavy smoke puffing around the windows. We put out the fire and there were no injuries.'

Station 23 also sent an engine as a backup. 'Fortunately, it wasn't a brownout night,' Station 69 Captain Joe Tijera said. 'Instead of responding with six people, we had the full crew of 10 and two trucks.'

'Everything is black [from smoke],' Alice said. 'We were storing my granddaughter's furniture. Now look at it.' The microwave, stove, washer, dryer and television in adjoining rooms had started to melt. 'You can't believe how fast the fire spread.'

'Not much you can do,' Robert said, adding, 'We want to see how quickly we can get the house fixed.'

The Scheiperpeters, who have been married for 61 years, are hopeful that if they can get the gas and electricity turned on they can move back into the portion of the house that wasn't destroyed by fire. In the meantime, they are staying with a daughter in Mar Vista while looking for a short-term rental in the Palisades.

'You find out how wonderful your neighbors are,' Alice said. 'People are stopping by and saying how sorry they are, they're leaving notes and a neighbor even brought by dinner one night.' The couple raised four children in the house (Diane, Nancy, Steve and Carl), all of whom graduated from Palisades High School. Robert is a faithful participant in the Palisadian-Post's weekly football pool, and has won it several times.

Captain Tijera said that heater fires are not uncommon this time of year. 'People should be aware of that and make sure that appliances are working correctly,' he said, adding that they had put out a house fire on Napoli Drive the previous week that destroyed a carport and two cars.

'Refinishing rags and cleaning solvents were to blame for that fire,' Tijera said. 'Spontaneous combustion does happen with those rags.' He also reminds people to keep their Christmas trees watered and to extinguish candles when leaving the room.