A man was discovered deceased after a fire broke out in the Broadway-Manchester neighborhood of South Los Angeles on Wednesday morning.
The fire started in a large commercial building measuring 60 x 80 feet, covered in metal cladding, around 11:40 p.m. on Tuesday.
Over 80 firefighters engaged in a defensive operation and managed to extinguish the fire in approximately 40 minutes.
During the search, firefighters found a man inside the building who was beyond medical assistance, as stated by Margaret Stewart, the spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, in a news alert.
At a certain point, there were concerns about the building collapsing.
“We were aware that there were homeless individuals living there because we had been here before… So, we immediately prioritized the search, but we couldn’t proceed due to the nature of the building… due to the extensive fire, and because it is an unsafe building to enter,” explained LAFD Captain Ivan Carmona.
The man, whose identity has not been disclosed, was located approximately 10 feet from the entrance and was pronounced dead at the scene. It has not been determined whether or not he was homeless.
The building was filled with mattresses, but it remains unclear what kind of business, if any, was being operated there, according to Stewart.
Both the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department’s arson investigators arrived at the scene to conduct an investigation.
