Officials: Fire damages 2 Long Beach homes

A house fire in Long Beach that spread to a neighboring house, seriously damaging both, was extinguished by fire crews early Sunday, authorities said.

Richard Corbett, chief of the Long Beach Fire Department, said the department received a call reporting a house fire on Roosevelt Boulevard at 1:35 a.m.

When crews arrived, they found the back of the home fully engulfed in a heavy fire that had spread to the back of a neighboring home about 10 feet away on Taft Avenue. .

It took 40 minutes for firefighters to control the fire, which investigators believe was accidental and began on the back porch of the Roosevelt Boulevard home, Corbett said. The fire was further fueled by gas from a 20-pound propane tank stored there, he said.

Everyone was out of the two homes by the time fire crews arrived, Corbett said. The occupants of the Roosevelt Boulevard home had gotten out of the house when their smoke alarm went off, Corbett said. The Taft Avenue home residents reported that they heard what sounded like hail outside, but when they pulled back their curtains, they realized the noise was from the fire and the electrical wires popping in the back of their house.

One firefighter suffered a facial laceration and was taken to Long Beach Medical Center for treatment and released, Corbett said.