A fire early Friday destroyed 11 tiny shelter homes and damaged four others that housed homeless veterans at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The fire likely was caused by overheated lithium batteries, LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey said. He added that investigators believe it's likely that lithium batteries charging in one of the shelters overheated and sparked the fire.
The fire department estimates the total damage at $160,000, with about $50,000 for the contents lost in the fire.
There were no reported injuries from the fire, which was reported at 12:12 a.m. on the 388-acre campus where the tiny home village is located. Firefighters found 11 shelters on fire when they arrived, and they put out the blaze in about 15 minutes, Humphrey said.
The Red Cross was contacted to assist the displaced veterans, but it's unclear if any housing was available for them.
Rob Reynolds, a veteran and volunteer with the veteran advocacy group AMVETS, said he received a call from one of the residents of the tiny home village shortly after the fire started.
"As I was driving up, I saw the fire starting to spread to a bunch of the other tiny homes," Reynolds said. "I didn't realize how flammable these tiny homes are. I mean, these things were just involved. And it was just spreading from like one to the next very rapidly."
"The veterans should be inside buildings with sprinkler systems," Reynolds added. "This wouldn't have happened [if they were in buildings with sprinklers]. They shouldn't even be in tiny homes."
The VA campus in West L.A. was deeded to the federal government in 1888 for the care of veterans after the Civil War, but in recent decades advocates have argued that empty buildings sit on the campus and could be better used to house homeless veterans.
A homeless encampment - known as "Veterans Row" - formed on the fringe of the campus along San Vicente Boulevard in recent years, but in November, the VA cleared the veterans while offering them services and temporary shelter.
The tiny home village was erected on the other side of the fence from the encampment. While there are 140 tiny homes in the village, several of the homes remain vacant due to staffing shortages, according to a recent report from Knock L.A.
Arnold Schwarzenegger donated 25 tiny homes - 8 feet by 8 feet in size - to the village in December.
The tiny home village was built under the Care, Treatment and Rehabilitative Services program, which was born out of a federal class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. The lawsuit argued the VA's programs discriminate against homeless veterans due to their severe mental health disabilities, which render them unable to access medical and mental health services.
As part of a settlement in the lawsuit, the VA promised to build 1,200 housing units on the campus for homeless veterans, but the project has missed several important milestones.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.