Flames Consume Downtown L.A. Smoking Supply Firm
Monday, September 12, 2016
LAFD Spokesperson: Brian Humphrey
The Los Angeles Fire Department held fire damage to one business among a row of firms in the Toy District.
Photo Credits:
LAFD Photo - Harry Garvin | Creative Commons LicensedLOS ANGELES-
It took scores of Los Angeles Firefighters more than two hours Monday night, to extinguish flames in a central city business just south of Little Tokyo.
The Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned at 8:10 PM on September 12, 2016 to 330 East 3rd Street in the Toy District of downtown Los Angeles, where firefighters arrived quickly to find heavy fire on the upper floor of a 13,822 square-foot two story midblock business in a row of commercial structures.
LAFD crews forced entry into Smoke Tokes, a wholesale distributor of smoking materials, to find intense fire in dense and highly flammable storage that included pressurized flammable gas cylinders, several of which were heard to explode. Additional personnel were deployed to the roof to aid in the vertical ventilation of heat and smoke during a fierce 23 minute interior firefight.
Upon determining that no persons were trapped and as explosions continued in the now fire-weakened 100 year-old structure, a well-coordinated transition to defensive operations ensued, with firefighters bringing large hose streams to bear from outside the structure in a successful effort to prevent fire damage outside the walls of the involved business.
Upon determining that no persons were trapped and as explosions continued in the now fire-weakened 100 year-old structure, a well-coordinated transition to defensive operations ensued, with firefighters bringing large hose streams to bear from outside the structure in a successful effort to prevent fire damage outside the walls of the involved business.
One hundred sixty-four firefighters under the command of Battalion Chief Alfred Poirier confined the fire to the building of fire origin, extinguishing flames in just two hours and four minutes. No injuries were reported.
Though fire damage to Smoke Tokes was severe, LAFD responders prevented millions of dollars of damage to the full block of densely constructed multi-story businesses.
Monetary loss from the blaze is still being tabulated, while the cause of the major emergency fire remains the focus of an active Los Angeles Fire Department investigation.
Monetary loss from the blaze is still being tabulated, while the cause of the major emergency fire remains the focus of an active Los Angeles Fire Department investigation.
Dispatched LAFD Units: RA9 E4 RA804 E3 T3 E203 E202 E2 T2 SQ21 BC1 BC11 E17 T11 E211 E209 T9 E9 CM22 E201 T1 EM1 BC2 E11 E250 T50 RA209 T27 E227 UR27 E10 T5 E205 E5 BC5 E27 RA27 HR56 EA1 UR88 HU59 RA4 RA3 EM11 EM2 RT59 RA821 AR1 CM21 RM2 BC18 BC13 E26 E21 E229 T29 E220 T20
