Power Out For Hundreds After Fire Destroys 2 Commercial Buildings In North Hollywood
NORTH HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — A blaze destroyed two commercial buildings in North Hollywood Monday night and also knocked out power to hundreds of nearby residents.
It took 111 Los Angeles firefighters nearly two hours to extinguish the blaze that broke out shortly before 9 p.m. in the 5400 block of North Tujunga Avenue. While the fire destroyed to buildings, crews were able to successfully defend a third building which is under construction.
The blaze started shortly as an outdoor rubbish fire that spread to a single-story building, before spreading to a second structure, the L.A. Fire Department reports.
Shortly after arriving on the scene, fire crews took a defensive operation after the flames spread throughout the structure and the roof collapsed.
A high-rise building across the street from the fire was impacted by smoke, but there were no medical complaints, the fire department said.
There were also downed power lines that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power de-energized to mitigate the hazard.
By 10:30 p.m., fire crews had made good progress, extinguishing the bulk of the fire, according to LAFD. The two buildings that were destroyed contained three businesses.
According to LADWP, there were 1,656 customers without power as of 4:30 a.m. Tuesday as a result of the blaze. It's unclear when power would be restore.
There were no reported injuries and the cause of the blaze was under investigation by the LAFD arson team.