Tower Fire Shuts Down LA Freeways

UPDATED: A seven-story apartment building under construction in downtown Los Angeles was destroyed this morning by a huge fire that damaged two nearby buildings and prompted freeway closures but appears to have caused no injuries.

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

But the wooden frame collapsed in the fire, and flames spread to a 16- story Los Angeles City building at 221 North Figueroa Street. Three floors were damaged by fire and 14 floors sustained water damage, said fire department spokesman David Ortiz. That building will be closed today.

Additionally, a three-story Los Angeles County Health Department building at 313 North Figueroa Street sustained radiant heat damage, including melted blinds and broken glass, Terrazas said. The radiant-heat damage provided a measure oh how much heat the inferno at 906 N. Fremont generated.

No injuries were reported but ambulances were standing by as hot spots were being put out, which was expected to take all morning and possibly stretch into the afternoon, Ortiz said.

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 the Temple, Broadway and Los Angeles offramps.

• -City News Service
• Photo Credit: Twitter, Jon Passantino ‏@passantino