Fire Guts Building Due for Demolition

Whipped by brisk winds, a fast-moving fire Tuesday afternoon gutted a vacant office building in Manhattan Beach that was being torn apart to make way for a large-scale Hollywood production facility.

The building, a two-story structure off the 1600 block of Rosecrans Avenue owned by defense giant TRW, went up in flames about 3 p.m., sending a huge black cloud of smoke billowing into a brilliant blue sky. No one was hurt, authorities said.

Fire Chief Dennis Groat said the blaze was undoubtedly the biggest in recent memory in the seaside town. “The most fire,” he called it.

The blaze apparently was sparked by hot slag dripping onto a piece of wood, according to work crews. The slag, a solder-like material, was produced by a torch that was cutting one of the metal plates in the modular building.

When the wood caught fire, the blaze raced through the space between the ceiling of the first floor and the floor of the second level, work crews said.

“It went fast,” said laborer Tony Truxton, 31.

Patrick Fair, 34, who was wielding the cutting torch, said workers had been following proper safety procedures. As soon as he noticed a fire, he said, he tried putting it out with water. “A couple of guys with extinguishers” were standing “right next to me,” but the fire grew too big, too fast, he said.

The building’s sprinkler system had been disconnected in preparation for demolition, Groat observed, pointing to red sprinkler pipes lying by a fence.

Daniel J. McClain, director of communications for TRW, said a damage estimate was not immediately available. He said the site is due to be transformed into a $77-million project housing 14 television and movie sound stages, with construction expected to begin in July.