The Los Angeles County Fire Department said that multiple crews were responding to control an apartment fire that started around 6:45 p.m. on Saturday evening.
The first crews to respond arrived at approximately 6:50 p.m. to find four apartments alight at the two-story apartment complex at the 2110 block of Palos Verdes Drive in Lomita, downtown Los Angeles.
However, the firefighters inside the building could not get access to one of the four apartments, suspected to be the initial site of the blaze, SkyFOX reported.
By 7:30 p.m., the fire had spread beyond the initial four apartments and the roof structure of the main building had collapsed.
Most of the second story of the Vista Verde apartment building was ablaze, with residents in their pajamas seen lined up on the street.
Eventually, firefighters were able to get in position with three ladder hoses, which helped bring the blaze under control.
They put as much water as possible on the perimeter of the blaze to try and stop the fire from spreading to the lower levels, including the carpark and to a newer adjacent connected apartment building.
The effort joined that of ground crews who continued to hose the blaze through second-story apartment windows from the ground level.
Fortunately, according to initial reports, there have been no reports of injuries.
It isn’t clear what caused the fire. A full investigation is to come.
