Crews Douse Fire On Fifth Floor Of Commercial Building In Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — More than 130 firefighters helped douse a blaze on the upper floors of  an office building in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The building, a six-story high-rise, is in the 1500 block of West Olympic Boulevard, at the corner of Union and Olympic, in the city's Westlake District just west of the 110 freeway.

The fire was confirmed to be on the fifth floor of the high-rise.

The fire was reported to have started at about 7:45 p.m. LA City firefighters say the building may have been heavily occupied at that time.

Crews on ladders were seen attempting to rescue people in the building who reported having been trapped by heavy smoke.

Two victims, Dickie Molina, 62, and his wife, were seen being rescued via a window and were taken down to safety on a large ladder.

Molina broke a window and began throwing out material to catch the attention of people below.

"I thought 'Oh, God, I hope I don't end up jumping, my wife is with me,' " Molina said. "So, I had to destroy the screen from the window. We opened up the windows so fresh air would come in, and I started throwing out packing materials so people would notice us."

"I just saw him throwing stuff out of there," witness Nelson Linares said. "I don't know if it was newspaper or paper, but he was trying to get someone's attention."

Crowds of people gathered around the area but were kept at a distance by firefighters due to debris falling to the ground below.

Capt. Daniel Curry of LA City Fire Department reported shortly before 9 p.m. that the department had received reports of people being trapped on the sixth floor.

At least one victim was said to have been treated inside an ambulance down the street for burns.

The origin of the fire will be under investigation upon complete containment, Curry said.

While the building did have fire alarms, officials could not confirm whether or not they were functional. Officials were, however, able to confirm that the building has no fire sprinkler system due to the building's age.

The fire resulted in several street closures in the vicinity of the building. Olympic was shut down in both directions in the area surrounding the 1500 block.

One firefighter was treated for "slight" injuries.