Flooding, Power Outage Leaves 100 Assisted Living Residents Displaced in Pasadena

PASADENA, Calif., July 31 (KNN) — Approximately 100 residents were displaced Tuesday evening due to a sprinkler activation on a fire alarm, which resulted in flooding and a power outage in a transitional living facility in the city of Pasadena.

The Pasadena Fire Department, police department and utilities responded to the 200 block of East Holly Street around 8:30 p.m.

Arriving crews found activated sprinklers resulting in the flooding of about 8 units on the 4th floor, approximately 11 units on the 3rd floor, and one to two units on the second floor, according to Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustine, who spoke to Key News Network at the scene.

Residents at the old YMCA building are all either transitional, or assisted living in single-room occupancy units within the structure.

Augustine mentioned that the building is scheduled for major renovation starting in October, so they’ve been working on displacing people out of the building, especially those with disabilities because the elevator will be down for a period of time.

The building is not at full occupancy at this time so the unoccupied units can house some of the residents impacted by the flooding. However, the greater issue is that there is still no power to the building at this time.

Augustine said so many of the residents are special needs and require assistance frequently. Electricians were at the scene attempting to work through the building’s electrical issues, because power was coming from the lines to the building, but the building remained dark.

“There’s approximately 100 people that are still occupying this building. What we’re finding right now is some of them have left and found other housing arrangements for the night, whether they’re staying with neighbors, friends. And so we’re trying to get an exact count. But right now we’re using the number of 100 people that would need transportation and housing for the night,” said Augustine.

Augustine also said the water evacuation is pretty major so the fire department has a commercial company that’s going to be assisting because it’s beyond the capabilities of the department. About three fire engines, two ladder trucks, two chief officers were all at the incident. The fire department was even looping in the L.A. County Office of Emergency Services for additional needs.

Augustine added that the Salvation Army was also enroute to provide some immediate food and hydration.

The fire department also received a report that a resident tried to start a fire, so in addition to all the flooding issues, the department is also conducting an investigation into possible arson. That would be a separate issue after the flooding, which was set off by the sprinkler, said Augustine.

Per residents evacuated outside the building, the property is managed by Adobe Community Properties in conjunction with the city of Pasadena. Many residents are suffering from homelessness, mental health, and drug issues.

Zak Holman, Video Journalist / KNN