3 Firefighters Injured As Crews Battle Stubborn Structure Fire In Venice
VENICE (CBSLA.com) — At least three firefighters were injured Saturday in Venice battling a stubborn blaze inside a storage facility.
Authorities said the fire was reported around 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening in the 600 block of Venice Boulevard.
The fire is burning at Extra Space Storage.
At least two firefighters have been treated for heat exhaustion. Another firefighter had a back injury, according to CBS2's Bobby Kaple. All were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
Venice Boulevard was shut down in the Abbot Kinney -- in both directions, Kaple reported.
Firefighters were trying to get the upper hand but found that the two-story building's metal roof was hampering efforts to ventilate the fire. Officials also said the fire spread to multiple units.
Because firefighters were unable to vent the fire, the building became too hot, officials told Kaple.
"The metal roof increases the heat exponentially, increases the gasses, the smoke inside and creates extremely dangerous conditions for the firefighters because it's basically acting like an oven and then you have separate storage units which is each like their own fire box. The roof at one point was glowing red. We did have to take our firefighters off the roof," said Peter Sanders, public information officer for the Los Angeles Fire Department. "It's really hot and a really dangerous situation for the firefighters and we're working methodically and very carefully to avoid any further injuries."
More than 150 firefighters were battling the blaze, according to Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The LAFD referred to the fire as "a major emergency" blaze.
