On Sunday, December 31, 2006 at 10:09 PM, twenty-two Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, nine LAFD Rescue Ambulances, one Arson Unit, two Urban Search and Rescue Units, one Rehab Unit, one Hazardous Materials Team, three EMS Battalion Captains, six Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, one Division Chief Officer Command Team, under the direction of Assistant Chief Donald Austin responded to a Major Emergency Structure Fire at 135 East 58th Street in South Los Angeles.

First units reported a large one-story, 100’ x 200’, metal clad commercial building with heavy fire conditions. Firefighters commenced a fierce initial interior attack on intense fire within the structure, only to be driven back by voluminous flames that fed on the contents that filled the building.



With a swift and well-coordinated transition to defensive tactics, Firefighters utilized heavy stream appliances and strategically placed master streams, while additional Firefighters extinguished several fires which had ignited in the surrounding structures.

It took over 160 Firefighters just 59 minutes to gain control of the blaze in the structure and extinguish the related fires in nearby buildings. There were no injuries. Loss from the fire is still being tabulated. The cause of the blaze remains under active investigation.

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Submitted by Brian Ballton, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department