Downtown Los Angeles appeared to be engulfed in flames after an apartment block caught fire in the early hours of the morning.
The resulting pictures and video footage make for some extraordinary scenes as the Da Vinci Apartments went up in flames, and a total of 250 firefighters rushed to the scene to try and fight the blaze.
Two different freeways were closed after the emergency services turned up to quell the flames, but the fire became so large that it could be seen from several miles away.
Wow! @epolitzerphoto huge fire downtown Los Angeles. looks really bad pic.twitter.com/CYvrBtMgOi
— David Clinch (@DavidClinchNews) December 8, 2014
The apartment block had not yet been occupied, as it was due to open in 2015, so it seems that there were no residents in it at the time of the fire.
Huge fire engulfs apartment complex under construction in downtown Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/2fmZtGSAVo
— PzFeed Top News (@PzFeed) December 8, 2014
According to The LA Times, the apartment block itself was engulfed, while two other buildings were also damaged. It took 90 minutes to put out the initial bulk of the fire, but the emergency services spent a lot longer in making sure the fire didn't spread and finding any potential hot spots.
