Over 100 firefighters battled heavy flames in a commercial building fire downtown Monday that spread to a nearby building and took one hour and 37 minutes to put out.
The fire was first reported at 1:43 a.m. in the 1300 block of South Flower Street, between Venice and Pico boulevards, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Margaret Stewart.
Video showed flames burning through the roof of a graffiti-covered building, which the LAFD reported had been the scene of a previous fire.
Firefighters arrived and found fire burning in two parts of a two-level commercial building, Stewart said.
Crews found heavy fire in the one-story portion at the back and were able to knock the bulk of the fire down in about 15 minutes.
”However, the situation escalated as flames rapidly spread into the adjacent one-story commercial building,” Stewart said. ”Approximately 20 minutes into the incident, smoke and fire were visible in a separate, one-story commercial building two doors to the south.”
Incident Commander Assistant Chief Douglas Lewis redirected fire companies and expanded the operation.
After mounting an offensive attack, the fire burned through the roof so companies took up a defensive posture and used ladder pipes and hand lines to pour water on the flames.
”They fought the heavy fire for over an hour and successfully defended two exposed buildings — an auto body shop and four-story apartment building to the rear. Occupants of the apartment building were able to safely shelter in place and no evacuation was required.”
Assistant Chief Lewis declared a knockdown on all three structures at 3:20 a.m.