Firefighters doused a greater alarm fire at the former Lamplighter restaurant at the abandoned Valley Plaza shopping center in North Hollywood early Wednesday morning, Oct. 26, as arson investigators looked into a cause and that of other, smaller fires reported in the area at around the same time.
The fire began at the one-time restaurant, at 6261 Laurel Canyon Blvd, sometime before 6:40 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
For more than two hours, fire crews poured water into the center of the building from ladder trucks, but the structure later collapsed.
By 8:45 a.m., fire officials said, the blaze was out.
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
The smaller fires, a total of eight, were all reported “within the span of approximately an hour,” said LAFD spokesman Nicholas Prange in a statement.
There was “currently no evidence connecting these fires,” he said, but the LAFD was working with police to determine if they were set on purpose.
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Prange said one person was detained at the scene, but it wasn’t clear if that person was a suspect in the fire investigation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took over 100 firefighters more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took over 100 firefighters more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took over 100 firefighters more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took over 100 firefighters more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took over 100 firefighters more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles firefighters attack a greater alarm fire early Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the former Lamplighter restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street in North Hollywood’s Valley Plaza. It took more than two hours to knock down the blaze, and the abandoned structure collapsed during the firefight. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
The LAFD uses its robotic firefighter on the blaze Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the long-abandoned Lamplighter restaurant in the Valley Plaza shopping center at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sylvan Street. The robot, which can hit a fire with more than 1,000 gallons of water a minute, is used in places deemed too dangerous for human firefighters. (Photo by Mike Meadows/Contributing Photographer)
