A tremendous battle by over 180 Los Angeles Firefighters saved multiple commercial buildings endangered by a fully involved pallet yard fire in Downtown Los Angeles.

At 6:47PM on 23 July, 2016, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 748 S Ceres Av.  The smoke plume was immediately visible and warned of a well-established fire awaiting the crews.  An outside pallet yard was fully involved with fire and, ultimately, exposed six commercial buildings.

Incident Commander Assistant Chief Michael Little immediately requested additional resources, establishing this as a Major Emergency Fire with over 180 firefighters on the incident.

A one story business next to the pallet fire was quickly taken over by flames and forced crews into a defensive operation.  The offensive fight focused on a two story building on the opposite site of the pallet yard and the fierce determination of firefighters saved the building from significant damage.  Two buildings behind the pallet yard also sustained damage but were not complete losses. 

Firefighters did not let the extreme heat deter their efforts and fought the blaze for nearly two hours before being able to knock down the bulk of the flames.  The long process of hitting all the hot spots, clearing debris and performing overhaul of the fire lasted through the night.

There were no injuries reported, the cause of the fire is under investigation and losses are being tabulated.

Dispatched units: T9 E4 E17 SQ21 BC1 E3 E10 RA9 E202 T2 E14 CM22 E211 T11 E25 EM1 BC13 HR56 T27 E227 E27 UR27 RA827 UR88 BC5 T10 E210 RA27 AR1 E13 E201 T1 E215 T15 E220 T20 E46 E221 T21 E226 T26 RA46 RA17 RA4 E64 EM11 EM13 BC18 BC2 BC9 HU84 EA1 SU2 T64 E264 E66 E35 E12 E2 E43 E37 HU59 RA209 RA809 RA209