Mt Washington Fire Entrapment Fatality 1919

Lieutenant Roman Waldemar Ritters of the Los Angeles Fire Department was entrapped and succumbed to burn injuries sustained on a fire in the hilly Mt Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles. Ritters was leading a crew of firefighters with Hose Company No. 1 when he became entrapped in what is described as a backfire in some media reports. Other reports indicate that he was attempting to save homes from the advancing grass and brush fire and may have received his burns as a result of a house itself burning. He suffered serious burns and perished in the hospital on June 20. Ritters' death certificate lists the cause of death as septicemia (blood poisoning) brought about by burns received during a brush fire. The fire on Mt Washington necessitated a 52-alarm response from LAFD, the biggest fire response by the department ever to that time.