Amazon cargo container catches fire on moving train in downtown Los Angeles

An Amazon cargo container being hauled through downtown Los Angeles on a Union Pacific freight train early Thursday morning somehow caught fire. 

The blaze was reported at around 5:20 p.m. as the train moved through the city near the 3900 block of E. Valley Boulevard, according to Los Angeles Fire Department crews. 

It took just over an hour for firefighters to fully extinguish the flames, which had engulfed dozens of Amazon packages inside the railcar. They said that there was no belief that there was anything immediately hazardous inside the cargo container.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Aerial footage showed large flames inside the Amazon container, which had one door ajar. Despite the fire, the train continued to travel through the rail yard with a large cloud of billowing smoke extending into the air. 

Firefighters said that the train engineer was aware of the fire, but continued to travel after they were told to stop until reaching the train yard.