Firefighters battled a blaze at a downtown Los Angeles commercial building yesterday afternoon, with smoke billowing from the single-story structure as flames threatened adjacent properties. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department's alert, the fire broke out at 1212 S Olive St around 3:30 PM, necessitating a defensive approach to contain the fire.
The Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed that the fire originated in a storage area within the building, which housed an assortment of building materials, after crews forced entry into the densely smoke-logged structure they encountered the closet/structure where the fire had not only consumed materials but also inflicted damage on some of the building's larger structural elements. In what became a greater alarm fire requiring significant resources, 68 firefighters worked for roughly 26 minutes to completely extinguish the flames as they tore through the building's roof in one disconcerting thrust, fortunately, there were no injuries reported at the scene.
Details of the firefight and its successful conclusion were shared in a subsequent LAFD alert - highlighting the efforts and proficiency of the city's firefighters. The property at the focus of the blaze was unoccupied at the time of the incident, which aided in preventing any civilian injuries or worse, a fact that served at least, to provide some solace amid the char and ruin left in the fire's wake.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation as officials sift through the evidence in an attempt to determine what might have set off such a destructive chain of events.
