Today in fire history: high-rise office building fire results in one fatality

A major after-business hours, high-rise office building fire occurred on Wednesday, May 4, 1988 in the city of Los Angeles, California, resulting in one fatality and ultimately destroying four floors of the First Interstate Bank Building. The 62-story, fire-resistive building is located in the heart of the city's business district. The Los Angeles City Fire Department described the suppression effort as the most challenging and difficult high-rise fire in the city's history. It took a total of 64 companies and 338 fire fighters more than 3 1/2 hours to control the fire. The fire is of great technical significance because...