8 Firefighters Injured In Venice Storage Building Blaze

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Firefighters contained a structure fire Sunday that burned in a storage building in Venice since yesterday evening.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, 365 firefighters were sent around 7:30 p.m. Saturday for reports of smoke seen in the 600 block of Venice Boulevard.

Crews said the blaze erupted at Extra Space Storage, located on Venice Boulevard near Electric Avenue.

Once on scene, firefighters found a 80,874 square-foot two-story storage facility with smoke showing from the second floor.

KCAL9's Joy Benedict spoke with LAFD Deputy Chief Daren Palacios, who said he expects crews to remain on scene until about 6:00 p.m. this evening.

"Every storage unit had a rolling steel door with a lock," said Palacios. "So we had to go storage unit by storage unit. There were hundreds of them on the second floor."

Firefighters said the blaze was stubborn, and difficult to extinguish as there was zero visibility with heavy smoke and heavy fire.

Crews reported they had to cut locks to storage units and warped metal doors as the fire jumped between units.

A total of eight firefighters were injured while trying to contain the blaze.

Five were treated for heat related injuries, two firefighters suffered from burns and another was treated for back problems.

Four of the victims were treated at the scene, while the others were transported to a hospital. All of the victims' injuries are considered minor and they are expected to make a full recovery.

Benedict reported that firefighters were able to section off about one-third of the building of significant damage that had destroyed units.

Firefighters were able to save, however, the other two-thirds of the units.

According to firefighters, the scene was considered to be a major emergency blaze.

Smoke was seen billowing in the distance Sunday morning as several storage units burned inside of the facility.

Firefighters reported the bulk of the fire was controlled within six hours. The blaze was fully extinguished at 9:56 a.m. Sunday.

The cause of the fire and property loss remains under investigation.

Firefighters explained they do not anticipate business patrons to safely access their private storage units until Monday.

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