More than 100 firefighters battled a third-alarm blaze Monday that razed a popular restaurant and other businesses in a historic structure in Santa Clarita, but no injuries were reported.
Crews were called at 2:55 a.m. to the 24000 block of North Main Street, in the Newhall area, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman told City News Service.
The heavy flames and smoke led to a second-alarm being called at 3:07 a.m., followed by a third-alarm at 4:42 a.m., increasing the number of personnel on the scene, department public information officer Keith Navarre said.
Firefighters had to take up defensive positions around the fire and train water on the flames from aerial ladder trucks to “surround and drown” the fire and protect nearby structures.
The structures involved were a performing arts theater, a restaurant called Newhall Refinery and a body shop, all located in a historic structure more than 100 years old in Old Town Newhall, according to the LAFD and reports from the scene.
No injuries were reported.
Video showed heavy smoke with the glow of flames showing through the haze as fire crews poured streams of water on the blaze.
By 8 a.m. Monday, the flames were doused, but full extinguishment had not yet been declared, as crews used excavators to “knock everything down,” Navarre said.
“It pretty much consumed the whole commercial building,” he said.
A total of 112 firefighters responded, bringing 58 pieces of apparatus, and a hazardous materials team was called in, as well as investigators who set about determining the cause of the blaze, according to Navarre.