On Thursday, June 26, 2003, at 0003 hours (12:03 a.m.), twenty companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, four Battalion Command Teams, four LAFD Rescue Ambulances, and the Tractor Company, under the direction of Assistant Chief John Ware, responded to a Major Emergency Structure Fire at 2852 E. 11th Street in the Industrial East Side.
First units on the scene reported a one-story, 100' x 150', commercial structure with a fire in a large dumpster in the rear of the building spreading rapidly into the structure. Faced with a large volume of fire, firefighters aggressively attacked the fire from the exterior with heavy stream appliances to knock down the bulk of the fire and used handlines to complete extinguishment of the fire from the interior. The fire was confined to "APS Laundry" and extinguished the fire in approximately one hour and twelve minutes. During firefighting operations a major portion of the roof collapsed; no injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire is listed as a "dumpster fire next to a structure/under investigation" and fire damage is estimated at $250,000. ($150,000 structure and $100,000 contents)
