Two firefighters were injured battling a blaze that destroyed about 10 businesses at a strip mall in Monterey Park Thursday morning.
Emergency crews responded to a smoke alarm at the northeast end of the mall in the 300 block of East Garvey Avenue about 1:33 a.m., Monterey Park Fire Department Sgt. Duke said.
Two firefighters were injured while battling the blaze and were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, Fire Dept. Capt. Matt Hallock said.
The fire managed to spread through most of the strip mall, destroying about 10 businesses, Hallock said.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze just before 4:30 a.m., Hallock said.
As the firefight was underway, residents at a nearby apartment complex in the 100 block of North Nicholson Avenue were forced to evacuate the building due to exposure concerns, Hallock said.
“We had 40 residents that we asked to evacuate … but since that time they have been allowed to go back in,” Hallock said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
