Jun 5, 2008 6:52 am US/Pacific
Blaze Engulfs Warehouse In Downtown L.A.
4 Metro Bus Lines Diverted
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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It took 150 firefighters to extinguish the blaze, which started before 5 a.m.
CBS
Nearly 150 firefighters Thursday morning knocked down a blaze that engulfed a two-story commercial building in the garment district of downtown Los Angeles.
Firefighters poured water onto the blaze from street-level and from above as flames and black smoke shot into the morning sky, barely a half-mile east of the Staples Center.
Authorities report no one was hurt in the fire, which broke out shortly before 5 a.m. (in a building on South Los Angeles Street near East Olympic Boulevard). Within an hour, firefighters had made significant progress knocking down the flames.
No one was living in the building. Fire Chief Douglas Barry said crews kept the blaze from spreading to nearby structures.
The building's first-floor housed most retail clothing business firms.
Rick Jager of Metro said four bus lines -- lines 33, 10, 92 and 55 -- that normally run along Main Street between Eighth Street and Olympic Boulevard would instead run along Broadway between Eighth Street and Olympic Boulevard while the firefighting cleanup effort was being conducted.
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