Los Angeles firefighters spent Monday morning battling two fires, both in apartment buildings: one under construction, the other under renovation, fire officials said.
A 911 caller reported the first fire at 906 N. Fremont Ave. just before 1:30 a.m., not far from a fire station.
“That address had a multistory apartment building under construction, a total of seven floors in the wood-frame stage, approximately 1.3 million square feet of area space,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said.
“More than two-thirds of (the building) was on fire, causing significant exposure issues for two nearby high-rise buildings,” he added.
It took 250 firefighters to get the massive blaze under control.
No one was injured.
“The cause is under investigation, and the loss is being tabulated. We estimate that it will be in the multimillion-dollars of loss range,” Terrazas said.
The second fire was reported in a smaller apartment building about eight blocks away on West Seventh Street just after 4 a.m.
Fire officials don’t know whether the blazes are related, but it took 100 firefighters to get the second fire under control
The fires also caused traffic headaches. Parts of the 110 and 101 freeways were closed as fire crews battled the flames.
