Fire Breaks Out At Venice Homeless Camp Then Torches Oceanfront Building
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A large fire which started at a homeless encampment ripped through a vacant two-story oceanfront building in Venice Wednesday morning.
The blaze was reported at 6:20 a.m. in the 700 block of South Ocean Front Walk.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the blaze started in a homeless camp and then spread to a nearly 7,000 square-foot building which shares both commercial and residential space. Cell phone footage showed heavy flames and smoke.
The building was heavily damaged, but there were no reported injuries.
At one point, the fire threatened to spread to two adjacent buildings, but the 116 firefighters on scene were able to protect those structures from the flames. The blaze was brought under control at around 8:30 a.m.
The burned building, which had been built in 1953, was described as heavily damaged.
The exact cause remains under investigation.
