A Denny's restaurant in the City of Commerce suffered extensive damage early Monday morning when a fire caused the building's roof to collapse. The Los Angeles County Fire Department was alerted to the situation shortly after 2 a.m. at the diner located at 7268 E. Gage Ave., as confirmed by a department spokesperson in a statement obtained by KTLA.

As the inferno took hold of the eatery, an employee was reported by KTLA having said two individuals were inside the facility during the outbreak of the fire but exited safely with no injuries. No patrons were present in the establishment at the fire's inception. Neighboring guests from the Best Western Plus on the same property were required to evacuate, including one who recounted hearing an explosion, as reported to KTLA by witness Marie Whiting, "There were a lot of big orange flames shooting out the top … It took quite a while for them to get the fire out."

Simultaneously, another account by NBC Los Angeles highlighted the heavy flames and smoke clouds that could be seen billowing from the restaurant. Firefighters were successful in extinguishing the blaze before 3:30 a.m., but the establishment was already destroyed by fire, leaving the community devoid of a familiar roadside respite.

The investigation into the cause of the fire remains ongoing. Meanwhile, the disrupted lives, including guests at a nearby hotel who were briefly forced to shelter in place, bear witness to the suddenness of tragedy, disrupting the early morning quiet. The situation was confirmed to ABC7, noting that it took firefighters a little over an hour to tackle the flames, but not before extensive damage had compromised the integrity of the structure.