Arson investigators sifted through the rubble Saturday to try to determine what caused a suspicious fire that gutted a business near the heart of LA's Fashion District.
Flames shot up to 30 feet during the early morning fire that tore through a business in the 1400 block of Santee Street.
Up to 80 firefighters responded to the 2:30 a.m. blaze.
The only way into the one-story building on the ground was to cut through a metal security door with buzzsaws, officials said.
The business was a wholesale textile operation with bolts and fabrics, said Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief David Perez.
The items may have fueled the fire.
The business owner is out of the country, but his brother said K-1 was a men's clothing store that was destroyed.
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It took firefighters 50 minutes to put out the blaze that burned through the roof.
Arson dogs were called in and got a hit in the rear of the building.
Officials were not calling it an arson, but it was deemed suspicious.
The building was red tagged.
The fire was contained to one business, but smoke damaged the building next door at Mike's Taylor shop.
