[symple_googlemap title=”Fire scorches commercial building in South LA” location=”10900 block of 109th Street, South Los Angeles, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”13″]
A fire broke out Thursday afternoon at a commercial building in South Los Angeles, sending flames through the roof and a column of thick black smoke into the sky.
The fire was reported about 5:45 p.m. in the 10900 block of South Central Avenue, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
It started as an outside rubbish fire and spread into a one-story structure described by Humphrey as a “large social services building housing the Watts Labor Community Action Committee.”
Eighty-nine firefighters responded and knocked down the blaze in 26 minutes, Humphrey said.
The facility is usually open between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. and its staff serves meals to as many as 85 senior adults each day, he said.
Firefighters saved the facility’s kitchen and most of the damage was limited to the building’s attic, Humphrey said.
If county health officials don’t clear it to be reopened on Friday, the committee has a backup facility, Humphrey said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation and the approximate monetary loss was being tabulated, he said.
–City News Service