Electrical Vault Blast Starts 7th-Floor Blaze

An explosion in an electrical vault Thursday sparked a fire on the top floor of a seven-story office building near Los Angeles International Airport.

The blaze at the Century Airport Center at 5250 W. Century Blvd. was reported at 6:19 a.m. by maintenance workers, Fire Department spokesman Pat Marek said. “The way it looks at this point, the fire was caused by an explosion in an electrical vault on the seventh floor,” Marek said. The fire engulfed the seventh-floor hallway.

Nearly 100 firefighters fought the blaze for 46 minutes before it was controlled at 7:03 a.m., he said. Only a handful of maintenance workers were in the building when the fire erupted, and no injuries were reported. No evacuations were necessary, Marek said.