A raging blaze ripped through the top floors of a six-story commercial office building in Los Angeles’s Westlake District on Monday evening. Two people were reportedly rescued from the fire and one of them is being treated for non life-threatening injuries.
Approximately a half-dozen aerial ladders were used to help hoist firefighters up to the engulfed floors, where they extinguished the inferno nearly and hour and 20 minutes after it broke out, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It took over 170 firefighters to get the job done.
The fire broke out around 7:45 p.m. on the 1500 block of W. Olympic Boulevard and Union Avenue. The number of injuries could have been far worse if the conflagration had broken out during normal business hours.
The cause of the fire is reportedly under investigation. The Chronicle notes that sprinklers were not installed, although it is unclear whether they are required. Investigators are also looking into whether the smoke detecters were operational at the time.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) are still in the process of seeking a person of interest in the massive, historic fire that tore through the Da Vinci apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles this past December. An unprecedented $170,000 reward is being offered to the person(s) with information leading to the arrest and conviction of individual responsible. Damage to the Da Vinci is projected to be close to $30 million.
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz
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