Truck Erupts in Flames at West L.A. IRS Office

A pickup truck loaded with drums of suspected explosives erupted in flames outside Internal Revenue Service offices in West Los Angeles early today, causing popping noises that sounded “like shotgun blasts” and forcing police to evacuate thousands of residents from 14 square blocks along heavily traveled Olympic Boulevard.

No injuries were reported, but rush-hour traffic was tied up for hours as federal investigators and LAPD bomb specialists cordoned off the truck to determine whether explosives were still inside. After closing off the location at 11500 Olympic Blvd. at 6 a.m., police had still not reopened the street shortly before noon.

The incident appeared to be the second at the six-story office building involving a vehicle loaded with bombs. In September, 1988, a stolen car loaded with bombs exploded in a garage under the same IRS office building.

However, police said there is no known connection between the two incidents. It was unclear whether they had been directed at the tax-collection agency.

“We’re still trying to determine what we do have,” said LAPD spokesman Fred Nixon. “We have a truck parked on the street that exploded. We don’t know whether it’s tied to incidents here over the last couple of years.”

Investigators kept hundreds of office workers from reaching their jobs, concerned that only a small amount of the explosive material in the truck actually was set off. But they had not yet determined what was in the large drums in the rear of the vehicle.

One witness, tow-truck driver Jeff Nord, 21, said he saw the truck on fire about 2 a.m.

“Apparently, something in the back was burning,” he said. “It was shooting out flames. And there were explosions that sounded like shotgun blasts.”

Firefighters who arrived at the scene initially thought they were handling nothing more than a vehicle fire, Nixon said. It was unclear how investigators then learned that the vehicle was loaded with explosives, the police spokesman said.