Fire tore through the roof of a vacant commercial building in downtown Los Angeles amid high winds Wednesday morning and threatened nearby buildings before it was extinguished by firefighters.
Firefighters responded to 1405 E. 15th St. near Hooper Avenue about 2:45 a.m., according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Video from the scene showed balls of fire shooting from the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky.
The fire in the 50-foot-by-100-foot, one-story building was declared a major emergency at 3:15 a.m. and a total of 135 firefighters kept the flames from causing any significant damage to adjacent businesses, Humphrey said. A knockdown was declared at 3:57 a.m.
“It is advertised as vacant/available,” Humphrey said. “There is no business name identified.”
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation.