Downtown Inferno May Be Arson

A seven-story apartment fire that melted freeway signs, closed down freeways and caused nearby windows to explode from the heat Monday morning, may have been arson, investigators are saying.

Damages from the Downtown blaze were expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

Early this afternoon, authorities announced a hotline number -- (213) 893-9850 -- where people can call to provide investigators with information on the possible cause of the fire.

The cause of the fire was being probed by a task force that included local investigators and personnel from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

At an impromptu news briefing early this afternoon at the scene of the blaze, LAFD Deputy Chief Joseph Castro said the nature of the fire suggests it could be arson.

“When we see a fire this well developed ... (we think) perhaps it was set,” Castro said, adding that he didn’t want to speculate further about the cause, however, until more was known.

The apartment building, which was under construction in downtown Los Angeles, was destroyed this morning by a huge fire that damaged two nearby high-rise buildings and prompted freeway closures but caused no injuries.

The fire was so hot -- the unsheathed wooden framing went up like kindling -- it melted freeway signs, and at least 160 plate glass windows burst in a city-owned building.

Flames were reported at 1:20 a.m. at 906 N. Fremont Ave., Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said. More than 250 firefighters struggled to keep the flames from spreading beyond the 1.3 million square-foot building, which was in the framing stage, he said.

Castro noted that flammable liquids are used on construction sites for equipment.

“It’s really unfair to speculate until we really get our arson investigators in there and really dissect what exactly happened,” Castro said. He said accelerant-sniffing dogs would be deployed as part of the investigative process.

Also at the briefing was Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar.

“I want to thank -- on behalf of all Angelenos -- the fire department for their response to this danger,” Huizar said. “They went to it, when many of us would run from it.”

The wooden framing partially collapsed in the fire, and flames spread to a 16-story city building at 221 N. Figueroa St. Three floors were damaged by fire and 14 floors sustained water damage, said fire department spokesman David Ortiz. That building will be closed today, and people were urged to contact their supervisors for further instructions on reporting to work.

Additionally, three stories of the 15-story Los Angeles County Health Department building at 313 N. Figueroa St. sustained radiant heat damage, including melted blinds and broken glass, the LAFD reported. The radiant-heat damage provided a measure of how much heat the inferno at 906 N. Fremont generated.

Firefighters this afternoon continued working to douse hot spots, an effort that was expected to continue for some time, the LAFD reported.

Arson investigators were on the scene, although it was too early to determine the cause, Terrazas said. They would look at surveillance video from surrounding buildings to assist them, he said.

Terrazas said the threat of scaffolding and wooden frame collapse caused the fire department to ask the California Highway Patrol to issue a SigAlert shutting down the northbound Harbor (110) Freeway transition to the northbound Hollywood (101) Freeway and the southbound Hollywood Freeway at Alvarado Street and Union Avenue.

The southbound Hollywood Freeway was reopened at about 4:30 a.m., according to the CHP, except for some offramps in the area.

About 3 a.m., the southbound 110 Freeway was closed at Broadway, but the lanes were reopened after about 90 minutes. The northbound 110 Freeway was closed at the Santa Monica (10) Freeway about 4:30 a.m., and remained closed until shortly before 10 a.m., when three of the lanes were reopened, the CHP reported.

Also, some freeway signs were damaged on the northbound 110 Freeway that direct motorists to the 5, 10, 101, and 110 freeways, the CHP reported.

The fire continued to smolder well after daybreak, according to the LAFD.

“The fire ... the bulk of it has been knocked down, but they need to get in there and knock down those hot spots before they ever declare a knock down,” LAFD Capt. Jaime Moore told Fox 11 several hours after the fire began. “When you look at the magnitude of this fire, and what we were able to save, it’s amazing, because we did have a total of three high-rises,” Moore said.

“The initial fire, which is a seven-story wood frame (under) construction that was well involved ... (and) we had those adjacent two high- rises, one which is 16 stories, and the other one which is 15 stories,” Moore said. “The first one, the 16-story building, had active fire on three floors, and had sprinkler activation on six other floors.

“So, they were able to get in there, and knock that fire down and prevent that building from having a major emergency itself. Then, we had the L.A. County building which is ... a 15-story high rise. They had three floors that were about to (catch) fire,” Moore said. “They were able to get in there and cool those floors down, so that we didn’t have active fire burning inside that building.”

The developer of the Da Vinci apartments, Geoffrey Palmer, also built the Orsini and Medici complexes near the four-level interchange.

“We would like to thank the men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department for their bravery, swift actions, and effective response in putting out the fire,” he said. “ ... Though we have temporarily lost Building B, we will be opening Building A across the street at the end of January to those families looking forward to occupying their new homes.”

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power headquarters at 111 N. Hope St. sustained building damage due to the fire, the agency reported late this morning.

“LADWP staff have identified at least 160 windows, mostly on the west side of the John Ferraro Building, that were cracked as a result of the intense heat,” the DWP reported.

“The window panels are each approximately 10 feet high by four feet wide,” according to the DWP. “Employees with work locations near cracked windows are being moved away from them while staff begins boarding and securing each location.”

The LADWP reported that customers calling (800) DIAL-DWP for immediate assistance with problems may experience higher than average wait times this morning. Officials recommended using the website www.ladwp.com , visiting customer service centers, or waiting to call until tomorrow for assistance with payments, service requests or billing issues.

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: Twitter user M arcus Yam ‏@yamphoto