[symple_googlemap title=”Watts social services center fire” location=”0900 block of South Central Avenue, Watts, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”16″]
Flames from an outdoors debris fire spread to a social services center in Watts, sending flames through the roof, a column of thick black smoke into the sky and threatening the facility’s kitchen that is used to feed low-income seniors every day.
The fire was reported at about 5:45 p.m. Thursday 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 housing the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, Humphrey said.
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 seniors 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 today, the committee has a backup facility, Humphrey said.
The approximate monetary loss to the Watts Labor Community Action Committee was being tabulated, he said.
—City News Service