Major Fire Tears Through Downtown Textile Business

LOS ANGELES, CA — A fire tore through a densely packed fabric business in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning, creating a major emergency requiring more than 120 firefighters to keep it from spreading.

The flames spread to an adjacent building bute crews were able to keep the blaze from spreading through the Garment District. Heavy black smoke could be seen for miles around as stacks of rolled fabric fueled the fire. The blaze was reported in the 800 block of South Crocker Street just before 5 a.m.. Firefighters arrived to find a fire outside the building that appeared to spread into the structure, according to Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Crews made their way into the building and found an inferno of flaming fabric, and the incident commander requested additional resources, she said.

Firefighters appeared to have gained the upper hand on the flames within about 40 minutes, but the flames spread to an adjacent building. Each building is single story, and about 25-feet-by-75 feet, said LAFD Capt. Erik Scott.

The buildings house a number of businesses, including textile companies and flower marts. One business was RB Textiles, Inc., a fabric wholesaler.

"Due to the heavy amount of fire load inside of these multiple occupancies, with rolls of fabric and flower stores, we've been forced into a defensive operation, meaning that we pulled our firefighters from the inside out, to ensure their safety," Scott told reporters at the scene.

"And now, we're just over two hours into the firefight, and we do not have full extinguishment," Scott said. "As you all can see, we made excellent progress. We do not expect the flames to spread to any other adjacent buildings."

No injuries were immediately reported. The fire could smolder for some time in the large rolls of fabric, fire officials said.

Arson investigators were sent to the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.