Fire and Explosions Rock Downtown L.A. Neighborhood

First arriving firefighters were met by fire through the roof - and a series of explosions, when they came to battle intense flames at a vacant and secured 5,800 square foot one-story industrial building in the southeast section of downtown Los Angeles.

The greater alarm fire was first reported by a 9-1-1 caller at 1:50 PM on August 27, 2024, at 1200 East Industrial Street, bringing the first of 110 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel under the command of Assistant Chief Douglas Lewis.

The well-coordinated defensive firefight by LAFD responders confined flames to the structure, preventing fire from extending to an adjacent 48 unit supportive housing facility.

The blaze was extinguished in just 61 minutes without injury.

The explosions, heard throughout the downtown area, were apparently caused by the rupture of pressurized gas cylinders with unknown contents, that had been stored within the structure and exposed to the flames.

With the fire and explosions causing extraordinary damage to the structure, leaving it untenable, LAFD heavy equipment, including the RS3 Robotic Firefighting Vehicle were deployed to assist with final extinguishment, salvage and hazard abatement efforts that went well into the night.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.