A fire broke out Wednesday morning in an abandoned Studio City lot that neighbors said has been a long-time safety concern in the San Fernando Valley community. Keenan WIllard reports for NBC4 at 5 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2026.
A fire broke out Wednesday morning in an abandoned Studio City lot that neighbors said has been a long-time safety concern in the San Fernando Valley community.
The lot located near residences at Moorpark Street and Babcock Avenue, just west of Whitsett Avenue, has been occupied by homeless people for years, neighbors told NBCLA. Wednesday's fire, captured on a neighbor's security camera, started at about 3:30 a.m., is just the latest headache, they said.
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In addition to the fire, neighbors reported trash regularly left at the site and disruptive behavior. Neighbors said they have reported problems to the city for about five years.
"Action needs to be taken, and this has to stop," said resident Kate Miranda. "It's a shame that a fire had to be the catalyst to make change occur."
On Thursday, the city's Department of Building and Safety said the lot has been declared hazardous and that they can start demolishing and cleaning out the site Friday.
Mayor Karen Bass also visited the location Thursday.
"This is a problem in the city where we have properties that have been abandoned, but we need to expedite the process," Bass said.
Bass said she relies on each council district to tell her about nuisance properties. The nuisance lot is in the district of her opponent in November's mayoral election, Nithya Raman. The council member's office released a statement Thursday afternoon.
"It is absolutely inexcusable that residents on Babcock Avenue have been living next to this abandoned, unsecured property for years. Our office has repeatedly begged LADBS and the City Attorney's Office to secure and clean up this site," the statement read. "We flagged this property directly to the Mayor's Office in November -- 10 months ago now. We have used every avenue we can to sound the alarm and nothing was done. For the Mayor to now suggest this is simply a matter of the council office 'calling the departments' ignores the reality: we have called, we have emailed, we have escalated, and we brought this directly to her office months ago. This property should have been secured and abated long before a fire made the danger impossible to ignore."
Bass acknowledged the comments from Raman during her news conference at the site, but said it wasn't acted upon because the property was not specifically labeled an "emergency."
Raman visited the neighborhood Friday morning, where she spoke to reporters and residents about what she called a broken system.
"The fire at this abandoned property was preventable," Raman said. "The residents of Los Angeles don't need a back-and-forth between the mayor and me. They need results.
"This is not a criticizing of the system. It is evidence that the system itself is broken and needs repair."
The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety general manager said if there is a reporting issue, the department will address the matter. The city department offers forms on its web site to report residential and commercial property complaints.
The city's Residential and Commercial Complaint and Referral division is responsible for investigating property code violations, including those with commercial buildings, and single-family residences.
The city also has a Contract Nuisance Abatement Division, which handles open, vacant, abandoned, and vandalized buildings under a process known as Vacant Building Abatement. The process involves declaring properties a nuisance and/or hazard after a public hearing. If property owners fail to comply with an order issued by the city to clean, secure, rehabilitate or demolish buildings, the city's VBA steps in for abatement work -- cleaning, security and possibly demolishing a building through a contract that's awarded annually to contractors.
Reports also can be made via the city's 311 Call Center.
