Firefighters Wednesday extinguished a fire that tore through a five-story housing complex under construction in East Los Angeles and also damaged a historic theater building and a house.
Firefighters responded to the area of Rowan Avenue and First Street about 1 a.m. and encountered heavy fire coming from the 62-unit complex, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Video from the scene showed the entire structure engulfed in flames.
A total of 150 firefighters were on scene, the department said.
The building, which had been under construction for 18 months, was supposed to house low-income veterans, the construction superintendent told CBS2. It was three months from being completed and was being planned and managed by a nonprofit group.
The fire was still burning after daybreak, authorities said.
The fire also damaged a historic pre-1933 theater building, and a single-story house. Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies evacuated nearby residents, and no one was injured. The cause of the fire was under investigation.