Fire Destroys Apartment Building Under Construction In Downtown LA

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) A fire destroyed a 7-story apartment building under construction and damaged two others early Monday morning in downtown.

The fire was reported around 1:20 a.m. at the 1.3-million-square-foot Da Vinci apartments, located at 906 N. Fremont Avenue, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

More than 250 firefighters were dispatched to the scene, including crews from nearby Fire Station 3.

They literally opened the door to see an entire city block with fire showing, Cpt. Jamie Moore said.

Crews attacked the wood-burning fire, which could be seen from across the city, from the ground and the Harbor Freeway.

The collapse of scaffolding and the structures wooden frame forced the closure of northbound Harbor (110) Freeway to the northbound 101 Freeway until 10 a.m. The northbound 110 Freeway to the southbound 101 remained partially closed until further notice.

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More than two-thirds of that occupancy was on fire causing significant exposure issues to two nearby high-rise buildings, LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas said.

A 15-story Los Angeles County Health Department building, located at 313 Figueroa Street, suffered radiant heat damage, while a 16-story high-rise at 221 Figueroa Street had active fire on three floors of that building and sprinkler activation on six floors, Chief Terrazas said.

Authorities closed the 221 Figueroa building for business Monday and established a help line at 1-800-882-1482.

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Fire Destroys Apartment Building Under Construction In Downtown LA