LOS ANGELES — Several firefighters were injured and multiple buildings were on fire after an explosion went off Saturday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.
Here are the latest updates:
Update 5:09 a.m. EDT May 17: According to The Associated Press, at least 11 firefighters suffered “minor to serious” burns while responding to the blast at a SmokeTokes hash oil warehouse on East Boyd Street. Although three of the firefighters are in critical condition, their injuries were not considered life-threatening, city officials said.
Authorities are still trying to determine what caused the blaze, the AP reported.
Major fire in Little Tokyo/downtown Los Angeles at San Pedro and Third. Dangerously close to Skid Row residents, senior and low income housing. Major smoke screen, ash is raining for blocks. pic.twitter.com/s4coh3xbgq
— sean miura (@seanmiura) May 17, 2020
Original report: At least 230 firefighters responded to the scene.
“An explosion on scene has caused a MAYDAY with approx 10 firefighters down and multiple buildings on fire,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said on social media.
Update MAYDAY #StructureFire; INC#1073; 6:26PM; 327 E Boyd St; https://t.co/WjQ6oryhNa; #Downtown; An explosion on scene has caused a MAYDAY with approx 10 firefighters down and multiple buildings on fire. This has been upgraded ... https://t.co/O5FoQxYNhf
— LAFD (@LAFD) May 17, 2020
The condition of the injured firefighters was not immediately known.
Firefighters responded to a call about a fire at a one-story commercial building around 6:30 p.m. When firefighters arrived nothing seemed out of the ordinary until the explosion.
A mayday call was issued and by around 7:15 p.m. the fire was under control.
The type of business or what caused the explosion has not been released.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Cox Media Group
