Hollywood house fire collapses roof, forces neighbors to evacuate, fire chief says

A house fire in Hollywood collapsed a roof and spread to a neighboring backyard as crews worked to get it under control early Tuesday, according to officials.

Hollywood Fire Rescue responded to the blaze in the 6700 block of Harding Street at around 3:36 a.m.

Firefighters found heavy flames coming from the roof, windows and doors, Chief Jeff Levy said.

“At 3:30 in the morning, the first inclination is that people are home sleeping,” he said. “Our first priority is to try to get inside to see if anybody’s inside. Fortunately, nobody was inside.”

Video shows bright orange flames consuming the structure, and crews pouring water from above after the blaze collapsed the roof.

“Between the roof collapse, the amount of storage [inside], the fire’s deep-seeded, smoldering, so we need to get water on it from above,” Levy explained.

Hollywood police also responded to the scene and evacuated homes on either side of the fire.

“The fire spread in the backyard to one of the adjacent houses and caught their jacuzzi on fire,” the fire chief said. Firefighters were able to quickly stop those flames from spreading into the home.

“Again, you’re awoken from your bed at 3:30 in the morning, so [it’s] shocking,” Levy said.

Authorities were able to get in touch with the homeowner by running the license plate of a vehicle in the driveway. He told them that he was on his way to work and not at the property.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters were still working to put out the flames as late as 6 a.m.

Once they’re completely extinguished, investigators will try to determine the cause.