Fire tore through the roof of a vacant commercial building in downtown Los Angeles amid high winds Wednesday morning and threatened nearby buildings before it was extinguished.
Firefighters responded to 1401 E. 15th Street near Hooper Avenue about 2:45 a.m., according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. They knocked down the fire in just over an hour.
Video from the scene showed balls of fire shooting from the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky.
The fire in the 50-foot-by-100-foot, one-story building was declared a major emergency at 3:15 a.m. and a total of 135 firefighters kept the flames from causing any significant damage to at least two adjacent businesses, Humphrey said.
A knockdown was declared at 3:57 a.m.
It was unclear what type of business this is or the contents inside the building, Humphrey said.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation.
