A man was found dead inside a commercial building that was engulfed in strong flames in the Manchester neighborhood of South LA, according to fire officials.
Firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department first responded to the building on S. Main Street near Imperial Highway at around 12:17 a.m. While the crews first thought they were responding to a rubbish fire, they discovered the metal-clad building was fully involved in a fire.
“Right away, we went into defensive mode,” Cpt. Ivan Carmona of the LAFD said, “As we were knocking down the fire, we eventually found a deceased person 10 feet from the front door.”
The cause of death was not immediately clear. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner is expected to determine the identity of the deceased.
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Carmona said it became part of a regular procedure for fire crews to look for people when responding to fires in the same neighborhood.
“We’ve been here before. We thought a homeless person started the fire,” Carmona said. “We try to search for people right away because we knew there were some homeless people living here.”
83 firefighters were dispatched to the scene and able to extinguish the fire in 38 minutes.
The LAFD captain added the building appears to be an auto body shop with cars inside and at least two vehicles in the carport of the property. Fire crews also found some upholstery and mattress-like materials inside the building.
The LAPD is also involved in the investigation, according to Carmona.
