Fire Damages Old Files in Hall of Records
About 40 boxes of court files from cases dated between 1879 and 1913 were damaged Wednesday in a fire of suspicious origin in the underground archives of the Los Angeles County Hall of Records.
There were no suspects and the investigation continued, fire officials said Thursday.
The Los Angeles Fire Department was alerted to the blaze by an unknown caller in the building about 7 a.m. The fire, at 227 N. Broadway in downtown, was extinguished 11 minutes after the call, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
“The fire was held in check by sprinklers,” Humphrey said.
“We did have to utilize fans to exhaust some of the smoke. The building looks like there has been some damage to it, [but] nothing that will make the building untenable.”
No injuries were reported.
County employees were scheduled to inspect the case files Thursday to determine the extent of the damage, said Kyle Christopherson, Los Angeles Superior Court spokesman.
“There would be many types of cases in those boxes,” he said. “If something is damaged beyond repair, there aren’t any backup copies.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
