Overview
- Fire crews responded shortly before 1:02 a.m. to a fully engulfed 100-by-100-foot commercial building at 5505 S. Alameda St. near Vernon.
- More than 120 firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles County Fire Department battled the flames with a combined force reported as about 140 city and 30 county personnel.
- Crews used defensive operations at the original structure while entering adjacent buildings to stop spread, and a roof collapse complicated suppression and overhaul efforts.
- Firefighters encountered and secured on-site propane tanks and pulled apart palletized flooring materials with a firefighting robot to reach hidden pockets of fire before a knockdown was declared around 7 a.m.
- Authorities say the cause, damage totals and the full number of businesses affected remain under investigation and officials warn that structural checks and extended overhaul work could disrupt the neighborhood for days.