Overnight Fire Destroys 3 Eateries
Arson investigators sifted through the ruins of three fast-food restaurants destroyed Wednesday by an early morning fire in a North Hills strip mall.
Plastic gasoline containers were found in the burned-out building in the 8200 block of Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said, but it was not clear that the containers had any connection to an explosion that witnesses said preceded the fire.
“We can’t confirm it was arson,” Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis said. “A water heater could have caused the explosion.”
Collis said the fire began at the Rotisserie Chicken restaurant about 2 a.m. and quickly spread to the neighboring Subway sandwich shop and Tacos Mexico restaurant.
All three restaurants were closed when the fire broke out. Fire officials said three employees and a security guard in Tacos Mexico when the explosion occurred escaped uninjured, Collis said.
He said investigators estimate losses at about $500,000.
“It was a total burnout,” Collis said. “It’s going to take a while to get it all back the way it was.”
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