Firefighters Battle Massive Boyle Heights Warehouse Fire

BOYLE HEIGHTS (CBSLA) — Firefighters Sunday morning were still on scene of a blaze that tore through a 120,000-square-foot warehouse in Boyle Heights Saturday night, during which a pot dispensary was discovered in a nearby structure.

The fire was reported at 6:43 p.m. Saturday at 1585 South Rio Vista Ave., Amy Bastman with LAFD said. There were four people inside at the time, but they escaped safely and none of them were hurt.

A total of 130 firefighters battled the blaze, which was knocked down in about two hours and 15 minutes. However, crews were still on scene as of 7 a.m. Sunday monitoring for hot spots in order to ensure the fire did not spark back up due to the dense materials inside. The burned building was used for fabric manufacturing, Bastman said.

"Access, also, if you look right above, you have a lot of high tension wires, very difficult to get companies on the rear of the structure as well...train tracks immediately behind it," LAFD Assistant Chief Antoine McKnight told KCAL9.

The fire started just outside the building before spreading inside, LAFD said. The flames collapsed the roof of the single-story building. Firefighters left the roof of the building "due to heavy fire load and high voltage power lines,'' according to Bastman. Flames had also compromised the structural integrity of the building.

Firefighters were training water on the building from the outside and working to protect surrounding structures, she said. They discovered a marijuana grow inside one of those structures. However, on Sunday, the owner told CBS2 it is a legal marijuana dispensary. No further details were immediately confirmed.

There was still no word on a cause. A financial estimate of the damage was not disclosed.

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