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Opinion: Burned on Broadway: LAFD contains big fire

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Over on the news side, Daryl Strickland reports on a fire that consumed the multi-unit building* at the northeast corner of Broadway and Fourth Street.

I can report that the fire is now contained, and since this is Opinion L.A., opine that the L.A. Fire Department did an excellent job, setting up water cannons on the roof of the Union Store For Men building, a four-story structure two doors down from the corner, which provided enough elevation to douse the roof of the corner building. They’re spraying the smoldering embers as I type.

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A note-taker who identified himself as an independent adjuster informs me that the owner of the building is Eli Sasson . The structure itself appears to be a prewar building with a stone facade that had been encased in shingles. The shingle casing covered all the windows in the stone facade, so firefighters knocked holes through the shingles. The blackened stone arches of the original wall can now be seen through a drapery of wrecked shingles. An LAFD representative tells Strickland the building was structurally compromised, though it would be nice if that original wall could be salvaged. The building’s street level housed various shops. According to firefighters on the scene, the upper floors were vacant. Nobody was hurt.

The following stores were wrecked:

Botanica El Faraón: Consultas espirituales

Pan American Travel: Envios a Mexico—Sigue

DolEx: Dollar Express

Yadira’s Bridal & Tuxedo

El Hurache Veloz: Autentica Comido Mexicana

Bridal Moments

Bridal World

Giromex: Envios de dinera a Mexico, Centro & Sudamerica

Adriana’s Bridal & Tuxedo

Jackie Fashion: Wholesale & Retail

Thanks to the aforementioned excellent work by the LAFD, both one-story buildings that abut the burned building were spared. Casa India Restaurant, the next place down on Broadway went unburned, though a firefighter speculated it may have gotten water damage. The next building down Fourth contains a few other shops, all of which were spared, including www.BroadwayArmyStore.com, which is already open for business.

* Actually two buildings, but so attached as to be barely distinguishable from the street.

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