A fire tore through a commercial building in La Habra on Saturday night, growing large enough that firefighters pulled back to protect the surrounding block rather than fight it from inside.
The blaze broke out on South Monte Vista Street on the evening of the Fourth of July, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. Los Angeles County firefighters, who provide fire service to La Habra, classified it as a second-alarm fire, a designation that brings additional crews and equipment to a growing incident.
Threatening the block
The fire burned close enough to neighboring buildings to pose a threat to them, according to ABC7. Situations like that typically push crews into a defensive posture, working to keep flames from jumping to adjacent structures while letting the original building burn down under control.
No injuries were reported. What type of business occupied the building, and whether anyone was inside when the fire started, were not immediately released, and firefighters said it was not yet clear what sparked the flames.
A busy holiday night
The La Habra fire was one of several that Southern California crews worked through the holiday, a stretch when fireworks and dry summer conditions routinely drive up the number of fires. Hours earlier and miles away, a separate large fire had burned a commercial building in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles, also without reported injuries.
Investigators will work to determine the cause of the La Habra fire and the extent of the damage. For a holiday night that strained fire crews across the region, the most important early detail was that no one was reported hurt.
