A Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) captain is suing a downtown vape shop and its building owner for negligence and hazardous activity after he was severely burned in an explosion last year.
Firefighters were responding to a fire that broke out in the warehouse in May 2020, when the building exploded in a 30-foot-wide ball of fire, injuring 12 firefighters along with LAFD Captain Victor Aguirre, a 20-year veteran of the department.
Aguirre is suing building owner Steve Sungho Lee, along with owners of the businesses inside the building, including Smoke Tokes, a vape shop. The lawsuit alleges that the building illegally stored large amounts of hazardous materials. Lee owns several buildings on Boyd St., which is also known as “Bong Row” due to the high number of businesses selling goods associated with smoking vapes, tobacco, and marijuana.
The lawsuit comes after the LAFD report found that the blast was caused by an excess of nitrous oxide and butane in the Smoke Tokes vape shop.
However, despite the large quantities of butane, the LAFD had no record of ever inspecting the building. The LAFD’s report said that “the subject address was not found in the LAFD Fire Prevention database and records of inspection were never completed.”
“From what I saw shortly after the incident ... they were obviously overstocked, and we would have cleared inventory, directed them to reduce inventory, cleared aisles, cleared product away from the doors … basically make it safe for our firefighters in the event there was an emergency,” Terrazas said.
Business operators and building owners on Bong Row are facing more than 300 criminal charges from the city for violations at various building locations as a result of multiple inspections by the LAFD, LAFD’s Arson Unit, Los Angeles Police Department, and the Department of Building and Safety.
Lee faces charges on 36 counts for violations at 327 Boyd St., 50 counts for violations at the building he owned next door, 46 counts for violations at 309 S. San Pedro St., and three counts for violations at 5719 S. Avalon Blvd. Lee could face up to 68 years in jail and face thousands of dollars in fines.
Neither Aguirre nor Lee could be reached for comment. The LAFD declined The Epoch Times’ request for comment “as the matter is in litigation.”