City yet to pay for cars destroyed in massive Los Angeles garbage truck fire

Josh DuBose
·3 min read
8

The owners of three cars burnt to scrap in the Los Angeles’ neighborhood of Harvard Heights during a massive city trash truck fire want to know why the cars have not been removed and when officials plan to reimburse them for their loss.

The May 13 fire occurred at around 2:15 p.m. in the 1700 block of Westmoreland Boulevard when flames erupted inside the trash truck and spread to nearby cars parked at the curb.

Firefighters quickly doused the flames with water and foam, but at least six parked vehicles caught fire, several of which appeared to be total losses.

“My Volkswagen Sport Wagon and my Smart Car are both total losses,” Kelton Green told KTLA.

  • Trash truck fire
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (viewer photo)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Citizen)
  • Trash truck fire
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.)
  • Car owners burnt by city trash truck fire yet to be paid
    A Smart car destroyed after an L.A. city trash truck erupted in flames on May 13, 2024, in Harvard Heights. (KTLA)
  • Car owners burnt by city trash truck fire yet to be paid
    A Smart car destroyed after an L.A. city trash truck erupted in flames on May 13, 2024, in Harvard Heights. (KTLA)
  • Car owners burnt by city trash truck fire yet to be paid
    A Smart car destroyed after an L.A. city trash truck erupted in flames on May 13, 2024, in Harvard Heights. (KTLA)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (viewer photo)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Kelton Green)
  • Cars charred after fire erupts in SoCal trash truck
    A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.’s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Kelton Green)

With nothing to salvage and no vehicle to get around in, Green and others were hoping the city would act quickly to reimburse them for the extensive damage, but so far, the burnt-out vehicles remain on the residential street and at least one of the owners, who filed a claim with the city, said he has yet to hear from officials.

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“I’ve been waiting for the city to contact us,” Alex De Leon, whose Lexus was destroyed in the fire, said. “I filed a claim, and we went to the city office, but we still haven’t heard anything back.”

First responders said they did not know what exactly sparked the fire, but that it may have started from an electrical fire inside the truck that ignited the truck.

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