Fire erupted Tuesday at an industrial building in Commerce, sending a thick plume of black smoke over the area and forcing firefighters into a defensive posture as they struggled to douse the flames.
The fire was reported shortly before 3 p.m. in the 4300 block of Pacific Way at a largely metal machine shop in a heavily industrial area just west of the Long Beach (710) Freeway.
The blaze at the roughly 3,700-square-foot structure quickly went to a second alarm, as the Los Angeles County Fire Department summoned additional crews to the scene. Due to the intensity of the flames, crews were unable to enter the structure but were restricted to a defensive mode, pouring water on the structure from the exterior.
One firefighter was taken to a hospital from the scene, apparently due to heat-related issues.
Crews on the scene reported that live power lines were down in the area, including lines that fell on an exterior fence and were on top of the building. As a result, crews were unable to make physical contact with the metal structure due to fear of electrical shock, and pools of water that formed outside the building were also possibly charged, forcing crews to keep their distance from the building.
Southern California Edison crews were called to the scene to de-energize the lines.
About an hour into the firefight, crews on the scene reported that walls of the structure were beginning to buckle, indicating the building was likely to collapse.