A fire that destroyed an under-construction apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles was the result of arson, city and federal investigators announced yesterday.
The fire broke out early Dec. 8 and consumed the seven-story Da Vinci apartment complex at 900 W. Temple St., and also damaged nearby high-rise buildings and signs on the Harbor (110) Freeway.
“Investigators recovered sufficient evidence to eliminate all known potential accidental causes and determine the fire was intentionally set,” according to the Los Angeles Fire Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which are jointly investigating the blaze.
The fire caused $20 million to $30 million in damage to the Da Vinci apartments. An estimated dollar loss from the other damaged buildings and to Caltrans property was still being calculated.
“Specific information regarding the fire and investigative efforts will not be released at this time, as the criminal investigation is ongoing,” according to the investigators, who said they sifted through 75,000 square feet of debris, took photographs, recovered potential evidence from the scene for lab analysis and conducted numerous interviews as part of the fire probe. Resources brought to the investigation by the ATF’s National Response Team included a canine team, forensic chemist, electrical and fire protection engineers and other specialists.
On Monday, investigators asked for the public’s help in identifying two people who can be seen in video footage taken near the blaze.
The pair are considered “potential witnesses” and are not considered suspects or people of interest in connection with the fire. They had not been found as of this evening and investigators renewed their call for information that could help identify them, LAFD spokesman Peter Sanders said.
Investigators have released two videos, with each showing one of the potential witnesses. They can be viewed at http://lafd.org.news.
One video shows a man in a T-shirt, jacket and baseball cap walking along a chain-link fence surrounding the burning property, and at one point he appears to try to jump the fence before he is grabbed by a pair of firefighters. The second video shows a man walking along a street, wearing what appears to be a football jersey with the number 21 on it, and carrying a backpack.
Anyone with information about the people on the video was asked to call the LAFD’s Arson Section at 213.893.9850.
