911 connection outages reported after large fire, explosion at AT&T building in Harbor Gateway area

HARBOR GATEWAY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A fire and explosion caught on video Sunday morning at a commercial building in the Harbor Gateway area forced nearby residents to shelter in place.

The fire also caused 911 connectivity issues for Redondo Beach police and fire, Gardena police and Carson police.

In a statement, the city of Gardena said, "An apparent AT&T fire has caused significant damage to phone lines in the Gardena area, causing wide service disruption. Gardena City Hall is also experiencing inbound and outbound call disruptions."

The fire was reported around 4:30 a.m. at the building on S. Vermont Avenue. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the outside fire extended into the structure's attic, prompting a small explosion and a roof compromise.

Video shows a Los Angeles firefighter who was dangerously close as the explosion went off. The fire blew through the roof of an AT&T building in Harbor Gateway.

Concern soon grew with a big black cloud of smoke coming from the large amount of lead-acid batteries that were burning off.

"I kept seeing smoke, and it looked like it was right on top of our building. The streets were all blocked off, so I just waited. I didn't know whether it was going to blow up or what," said resident Paul Ciavarelli.

Ciavarelli said he woke up to an evacuation of his apartment around 4:30 a.m. Sunday as the flames broke out.

"I woke up and it was warm. The power went off and I smelt smoke. I went out my door and saw fire from my building," he said.

LAFD said one of their firefighters took a bit of heat on the roof and was sent to the hospital, but is expected to be OK.

Water run-off was being monitored for PH balance and quality after the massive blaze.

"It houses batteries... a lot of fire in it. It was emitting a toxic cloud of smoke. As a precaution, the fire department went to the neighboring apartment buildings, asked all the residents to shelter in place," said David Ortiz with LAFD.

Fire officials asked residents to keep their windows closed until the smoke lifts.

"We have a bunch of little kids with allergies and all that, so when things happen like that, we have to connect the purifier at home and try to get the safest air quality as possible," said Gardena resident Gerry Martinez.

AT&T said all of its employees are safe and deployed its network disaster recovery team to help customers who may experience service issues in the area.

L.A. City Fire says rail service in the area was shut down. They said they have been working on containment and mop-up throughout the day and will continue to monitor the situation.

It's unclear what exactly sparked the fire.