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Robert Scott, an office manager at Mathis' production
company, said the blaze broke out on Monday evening and that he
was hopeful a full assessment in the daylight would show what
could be restored.
Mathis, 80, best known for the hit songs "Chances Are" and
"Misty," told local television stations the fire caused
extensive damage but that it could have been worst.
"Those are just things. I’m a very lucky man, I could have been
here, I could have been in bed,” Mathis said.
The singer had just returned to Los Angeles from performances in
New York and Cleveland when he was told about the fire, which
started while no one was home and was reported by a neighbor,
Scott said.
Local TV station NBC4 showed firefighters standing in front of a
gutted, debris-strewn room at the mansion, and Mathis wearing a
baseball cap as he spoke to arson investigators.
The Los Angeles Fire Department Hosaid the cause of the blaze
was under investigation and that a full damage assessment was
not immediately available.
The fire damaged at least two rooms at the mansion and heat from
the blaze broke glass panes on an atrium over an indoor swimming
pool that sits at the center of the home, Scott said.
The fire, which also caused extensive smoke damage throughout
the residence, is believed to have started in an aquarium room
adjacent to the pool, he said.
Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief Dean Zimmerman told
local TV stations that firefighters had some trouble getting
heavy equipment up the hill to the mansion.
"We immediately got out his trophies and some of his memorabilia
that's irreplaceable," Zimmerman said.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Daniel Wallis and
Peter Cooney)
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Fire
damages Johnny Mathis' mansion in Los Angeles
