Early this morning, firefighters battled a significant blaze in Downtown Los Angeles, with heavy smoke initially showing from the back of a two-story structure on East 9th Street. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) crews quickly switched to an offensive mode to control the fire upon their arrival at the scene. The address, 522 E 9th St., was first believed to be a mix of residential and commercial units, as reported by LAFD's alert.
However, the situation escalated as the fire intensified, prompting a switch to defensive operations by the firefighters. According to an update provided by the LAFD, "With heavy, pressurized smoke filling the units, and fire coming through the roof," two additional task forces were called to the scene to assist. The building was later clarified to be a large, single-story commercial space with a 'false' second story, containing significant quantities of textiles and furniture.
As the firefighting efforts continued, the LAFD made progress using heavy streams to combat the large quantities of rolled textile and furniture found ablaze in at least three units, as detailed in a subsequent update. In a testament to the responders' efforts, no injuries were reported, despite the challenging conditions.
In their third update of the morning, the LAFD announced that while the majority of the fire had been extinguished, the remaining fire within the heavy content of textiles and furniture still necessitated an active response, including heavy equipment operators to move debris and facilitate complete extinguishment, as captured in their alert. Drivers are advised to seek alternate routes through Downtown LA due to the continuation of the incident into the morning. Public Information Officer Captain Erik Scott was reported enroute for media availability, and a total of 98 firefighters were declared to be on the scene working towards a Greater Alarm incident resolution.
The cause of the fire is yet to be announced, and further details on the incident will be provided as they become available.
