Firefighters doused a large blaze that charred the interior of a one-story commercial building in Long Beach Monday.

People started calling the Long Beach Fire Department about the blaze in the 1800 block of Atlantic Avenue at around 11:40 a.m., according to Capt. Jack Crabtree.

A firefighter sprays water on a large fire at an abandoned building in the 1800 block of Atlantic Avenue on Monday, July 8, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Crews found significant smoke and fire throughout the entire building. They called in a second-alarm response and began cutting holes in the roof and pouring water on the blaze, according to Crabtree.

People at the scene said there appeared to be people living in the shuttered building.

Nobody was injured in the fire, and the cause is still under investigation, Crabtree said.

The number of fires burning in Long Beach spiked over the last few years. The number of people living in abandoned buildings or along encampments was one of the contributing factors, according to authorities.

The burned-out remains of a vacant building where a second-alarm fire burned in the 1800 block of Atlantic Avenue on Monday, July 8, 2024.
Firefighters climb onto the roof of a vacant building in the 1800 block of Atlantic Avenue on Monday, July 8, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.