Third street fire burns in Downtown LA

Candle burning in a dimly lit spaceJaclyn Moy/Unsplash

At 1:52 am a structure fire was reported at 139 E 3rd St near the corner of S Los Angeles St. in Los Angeles.

Video footage from Citizen app user @William350 showed a large blaze extending from the building.

Less than ten minutes later, police requested a unit to west on E 3rd St to stop traffic in both directions on S Los Angeles St.

Firefighters requested additional units on the scene.

Firefighters actively battled a fire engulfing three floors of the building. Nearly an hour later, an update from the LAFD Twitter account stated that fire was present in the first three floors of the four-story commercial structure.

Firefighters advised that there may be hazardous chemicals and worked externally to maintain firefighter safety.

Alarmingly, firefighters reported small explosions from within the first floor of the structure.

Firefighters worked on establishing ventilation on the three-story structure.

Firefighters advised that the small explosions were coming from compressed air cylinders.

Firefighters took a defensive position as they continued to experience small explosions from within the first floor.

Multiple Citizen app users' videos showed the deployment of several fire hoses onto the burning building as black smoke filled the horizon.

Firefighters fought the fire on two fronts.

At 2:40 am, firefighters advised that they were maintaining a defensive posture for the next hour as the fire continued to rage within the second and third floors.

They reported that there were no firefighter or civilian injuries.

Suddenly, LAFD units advised the fire was bursting through the roof of the building.

After 3 am, the bulk of the fire was extinguished on multiple floors. The remaining fire was primarily on the top floor of the building.

The American Red Cross was requested to the scene for three people who may have been displaced.

At 5:33 am, there was still active fire, but officials stated it was only minimal at that point, nearly four hours after the fire began.

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