DOWNEY – Firefighters from at least five fire departments battled a two-alarm blaze at the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey.
Fire crews from Downey, L.A. County, Montebello, La Habra Heights and Compton fire departments were able to get control of the raging blaze just after 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to Fourth District County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
“The fire in an abandoned building at Rancho Los Amigos South Campus is under control thanks to the swift action of both the Downey Fire Department and @LACOFD,” the supervisor tweeted.
“At this time no injuries have been reported to any civilian or firefighters,” the Downey Fire Department tweeted.
Jeremy Stafford, a dispatch supervisor with the L.A. County Fire Department, said his agency got the call for assistance at 6:31 p.m. and confirmed the incident was a second-alarm fire, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Downey Fire Department firefighters were called about 6:17 p.m. to the 12000 block of Erickson Avenue after the fire broke out in an abandoned building, Doug Ulibarri, a spokesman for the Downey Fire Department, told the Times.
Firefighters battled flames coming from the building’s roof and were forced to employ defensive measures as they fought to control the fire.
According to the Times, the Rancho Los Amigos campus opened in 1888 as the Los Angeles County Poor Farm, which offered ranch work and medical care to handicapped, ill, elderly and homeless people.