Dorothy Mae Apartment-Hotel fire
Dorothy Mae Apartments, Los Angeles Times image, 1927
DateSeptember 4, 1982 (1982-09-04)
Coordinates34°03′46″N 118°14′46″W / 34.0628°N 118.246°W / 34.0628; -118.246
TypeArson fire
MotiveRevenge
PerpetratorHumberto de la Torre
Casualties
25 killed
30 injured
Sentence625 years

The Dorothy Mae Apartment-Hotel fire was a September 4, 1982 arson that killed 25 people in Los Angeles, California in the United States.[1] An additional 30 people were injured.[2]

In 1985, Humberto de la Torre was convicted of starting the fire and sentenced to 625 years in prison.[3] de la Torre started the fire with gasoline and a match in response to an argument with his uncle, who lived in the building.[4] The perpetrator and most of the victims were immigrants from El Salitre, Zacatecas, Mexico.[3] The vast majority of the victims were from four families.[5]

The Dorothy Mae building, located at 821 Sunset Boulevard, was constructed primarily of bricks and had been opened to tenants in 1927.[6][7] The 43-unit building housed nearly 200 people.[4]

The Dorothy Mae Apartment-Hotel fire was the impetus for the 1984 passage of a fire sprinkler law known as the Dorothy Mae ordinance.[2] The Dorothy Mae ordinance "requires all pre-1943 residential buildings of R-1, Occupancy, three or more stories in height, to meet certain specified retroactive fire safety requirements."[8]

The November 15, 1973 Stratford Apartments fire also killed 25 people in Los Angeles.[5] The 1970 Ponet Square Hotel and Apartments fire that killed 19 people led to the enactment of the "Ponet doors ordinance."[9]

References

  1. ↑ "LAFD - Dorothy Mae Apartment Fire, September 4, 1982". www.lafire.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  2. 1 2 ABC7. "Major fires at Bay Area apartment complexes raise safety concerns about lack of sprinklers". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved 2023-04-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 "Man Sentenced to 625 Years for 25 Deaths in Dorothy Mae Fire". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  4. 1 2 "The Los Angeles Times 22 Mar 1988, page 21". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  5. 1 2 "Dorothy Mae apartment blaze claims 22nd victim". UPI. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  6. ↑ Ap (1982-09-05). "AT LEAST 19 KILLED IN BLAZE ON COAST". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  7. ↑ "The Los Angeles Times 27 Mar 1927, page 95". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  8. ↑ "Dorothy Mae Ordinance | Los Angeles Fire Department". www.lafd.org. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  9. ↑ "The Los Angeles Times 09 Dec 2014, page Page 9". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  • ANALYSIS OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS
  • Bell, James R. (4 September 1982). Dorothy Mae Apartment Hotel Fire, Los Angeles, CA, September 4, 1982, 24 Fatalities: Summary Investigation Report. National Fire Protection Association. p. 40.
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