Scores of Los Angeles Firefighters labored for three-and-a-half hours early Wednesday morning to limit intense flames to a downtown garment business. " src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif" title="<--break-->">   At 5:00AM on August 22, 2018, the first of many 9-1-1 calls from passersby reported a structure fire at 1316 South Margo Street in the South Park area just west of the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Fire Department arrived quickly to find heavy smoke showing from the roof vents of a 50' x 150' one story garment firm, that spanned nearly the full width of the city block.  Though a division wall was present, a single interior door connected the burning building to another 1800 square-foot trapezoidally shaped building that fronted 1317 South Olive Street.    As additional firefighters were summoned, the first arriving LAFD crews forced entry into both sides of the well-secured structures to commence an offensive firefight against flames deeply seated in dense storage of boxed, baled and palletized clothing storage.  The heavy fire load combined with a mezzanine created challenging conditions, slowing the advance of the interior attack. The fire continued to rage during the battle to reach the seat of the fire, and soon the safety risk to all involved outweighed any gain. Consquently, the Incident Commander made the decision to transition to a defensive operations, causing crews to immediately deploy master streams and work collectively to both defend the laterally exposed businesses and quell the stubborn fire.   One hundred-sixty firefighters, under the command of Deputy Chief Phillip Fligiel, confined the fire to the structure of origin, fully extinguishing the flames by 8:30 AM.    There were no injuries.   The building was not equipped with optional fire sprinklers. Fire loss was estimated at $1.2 million ($800,000 structure and $400,000 contents).  The firefighter's dedicated efforts to limit the flames to the building origin prevented an even more costly loss.   The cause of the major emergency fire remains under active investigation.    Dispatched LAFD Units: E10  T10  E210  RA10  RA810  E9  T9  E209  SQ21  BC11  BC1  E203  E3  T3  CM22  EM11  BC13  RA209  E215  T15  E2  EM1  HR3  T27  E227  E27  UR27  RA27  UR88  BC5  E11  EA2  AR2  AR1  AR1  EA1  PI4  E229  T29  E211  T11  E13  E226  T26  CM21  HU59  E26  E220  T20  E21  E202  T2  BC18  E20  E201  T1  BC2  BC9  RA9  EM2  RA11  EM25  RM4  AR10  BC1  RM2  AR37  HE1  TP3  LD4  LD2  AR19  AR21  RA209  TP2  LD1  T61  E261  T95  E295  E37  E85  RA246  RA809  BC1  T21  E221  E29  T63  E263  T5  E205     Incident Photo Gallery