'Tower of fire' destroys L.A. apartment complex under construction

The fire engulfed a towering residential project, raining ash on much of downtown Los Angeles and lighting the predawn sky a smoky orange.
It took 250 firefighters an hour and a half to put out the fire that broke out in the Da Vinci apartment complex about 1:20 a.m. Monday. The development, the size of a city block at the juncture of the Harbor and Hollywood freeways, was in the process of being framed, mostly with wood. No one lived there yet and no injuries were reported.