Family-owned business in South LA is on fire again after previous suspected arsons

A family tire shop in the Vermont-Slauson neighborhood of South Los Angeles went up in flames early Thursday after at least two other fires there that authorities investigated as suspected arson.

Arson investigators were dispatched to the scene after firefighters responded to the business in the 6900 block of South Vermont Avenue around 3:30 a.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Within 21 minutes, 28 firefighters managed to extinguish the flames and prevent the fire from spreading further.

Company officials said this is at least the fourth time the tire store has caught fire. Vermont Tires has been family owned in the area for 20 years, according to the owners, who spoke to CBS News Los Angeles after another fire in August.

It was one of two that occurred the same month, and both are being investigated as suspected arson, according to LAFD.

On Aug. 29, LAFD received several 911 calls at 3:38 a.m. reporting a fire at the tire store, the agency said in a statement. Firefighters discovered sky-high flames upon arrival and managed to extinguish them within 90 minutes, LAFD said.

“Well, it’s a suspicious fire. That’s why you see some of the arson investigators behind us combing through the rubble and talking to witnesses and looking at the fire patterns.” LAFD Capt. Erik Scott said at the timenoting that authorities also took into account the fact that there had been another fire in the store not long before.

Nearly four weeks earlier, on August 2, firefighters responded to another fire just outside the business, which LAFD later said in a statement was “intentionally caused.” It also sparked during the early morning hours. Surveillance footage shows a person appearing to throw something into a yard full of tires next to the store just before the flames broke out.

In drawing a connection between the two incidents in August, Scott said there were some similarities that investigators were looking at.

“It’s definitely a concern,” Scott said. “There’s a similar pattern where it’s in the same location before sunrise. It looked like it was a fire from outside that had moved in.”

The cause of those fires, and the latest one Thursday, has not been released by LAFD.