A warehouse in South El Monte was deemed a total loss overnight following a fire that torched the structure.
Flames were seen shooting out from a warehouse on the 1400 block of Santa Anita Avenue, where a blaze erupted for reasons still under investigation. According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the fire was reported around 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
“We had a fully involved fire through the roof and then we went into a defensive operation quickly because that roof collapsed,” LA County Fire Department Capt. Sheila Berkoh said.
No other buildings were impacted by the blaze and no injuries were reported in connection with it. Those who were in the area when the fire began reported hearing explosions.
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“It’s a warehouse for Amazon return packages so there’s a lot of lithium-ion batteries in there and small electronics,” Berkoh said. “And those lithium-ion batteries are very incredibly volatile, and some people were saying they could hear some small explosions in there and it was probably those batteries.”
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.
Authorities initially identified the building as an Amazon warehouse, but later said it was not affiliated with the company.
