Automatic alarm activation at a fabric warehouse
LAFD – LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Fire Department crews, summoned at 3:51 AM on May 19, 2020 to investigate an automatic fire alarm activation at a fabric warehouse at 1914 South Mateo Street, arrived quickly to find fire sprinkler activation and heavy smoke showing from a 200′ x 200′ one story block building.
As additional units were requested to battle a working fire, first arriving firefighters forced entry to encounter thick smoke permeating dense storage of rolled textiles as much as 15 feet high throughout the structure. As their colleagues made their way to the roof to perform strategic vertical ventilation, firefighters inside the building continued in their efforts, aided by handheld thermal imaging cameras, to find the seat of the fire.
Climbing and crawling among the obstacles created by dense storage of flammable textiles, as well as a loading dock filling with water, firefighters were finally – after more than 90 minutes, able to access a mezzanine area deep within the structure to find and fully extinguish the fire.
No injuries were reported.
Fire loss to Lavitex, a textile wholesaler, is still being tabulated. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
