LAFD: Historic Downtown Los Angeles Building Destroyed by Fire | December 26, 2024

A massive fire erupted in a vacant building in Downtown Los Angeles on December 26, 2024, requiring over 100 firefighters to battle the flames for more than 90 minutes before gaining control.

On December 26, 2024 at 10:58AM, the Los Angeles City Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 1200 block of S Hope Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Firefighters arrived to find a vacant, four-story building (three floors residential over one floor of commercial units) with light smoke showing.

Vacant for over 15 years, the building was frequent training site for LAFD, giving crews an advantage in quickly navigating the structure. Firefighters made their way up and located heavy fire on the fourth floor. The well-developed fire breached the roof and triggered the Incident Commander's decision to move to a defensive operation.

While LAFD was arriving on scene, several dozen people self-evacuated the structure. As firefighters were making their way through the building, they located an additional three people on the third floor. They evacuated the people to safety via ground ladders crews deployed to fire escapes.

Multiple fire trucks used ladder pipes to douse the blaze from above while firefighters also used large diameter hand lines from the ground. After one hour and 37 minutes, the over 100 firefighters working under the command of Assistant Chief Melford Beard extinguished the fire with no injuries reported.

The nearly 50,000 square foot, E-shaped building, built in 1914 was already red-tagged by Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) prior to the fire. It sustained partial roof collapse with the interior structural integrity in doubt, it was not safe for firefighters to make entry and fully extinguish the remaining pockets of fire. Therefore, crews will remain on fire watch through the night to ensure public safety and no flare-ups. Firefighters were unable to confirm the fourth floor was evacuated prior to arrival therefore Human Remains Detection K9s will be used, once safe, to search the structure.

The decision on the future of the historic building resides with LADBS.

Per protocol for a Major Emergency incident, LAFD Arson and Counter-Terrorism Section (ACTS) responded and is conducting an active investigation into the cause of the fire.