Firefighters Sunday battled a blaze that broke out early in the morning and remained active throughout the afternoon at a downtown L.A. office supply store.
Near West Pico Boulevard, 1225 S. About 120 firefighters were called to the two-storey building with a mezzanine on Hope St at 4am. Upon arrival, firefighters encountered heavy smoke and flames. A firefighter suffered minor injuries in the fight and was hospitalized.
Firefighters switched from offensive to defensive mode and used remote-suppression robots to enter the building, said LAFD spokeswoman Jennifer Middleton. Arson and emergency air units were also requested.
1. Firefighters Sunday battled a blaze that broke out early in the morning and remained active throughout the afternoon at a downtown L.A. office supply store. (Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
LAFD Battalion Chief Peter Hsiao said the fire was brought under control by 5:52 a.m., but the contents of the building flared up again.
Around 10 a.m., firefighters were trying to remove paper from the building to prevent it from catching fire, Hsiao said.
According to Times photographer Kayla Bartkowski, who was at the scene, the roof of the building had collapsed by 10:30 a.m. Thirty minutes later the building was again engulfed in flames.
At 1:30 p.m., firefighters were trying to bring the blaze under control by using a forklift and heavy machinery to pull boxes of office supplies and pallets of paper out of the building, then spraying water.
He said that the firefighters present on the roof were also spraying to prevent the fire from spreading.
The fire was reported around 4 a.m. at 1225 South Hope St. in Downtown LA.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
The address is associated with Bluebird Office Supplies. A voicemail left at the number listed for the business owner was not immediately returned.
Middleton said no one was inside the building at the time of the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
