From Hal Eisner:
It's late afternoon and suddenly, in Rosemead, firefighters are called to a fire at a big apartment complex. To resident Kevin Fox, it looked like the building near him was "completely engulfed."
He told us "It was pretty scary because it was so close and very hot."
At first, because there were explosions heard there was suspicion pipe bombs might have been involved.
That was quickly ruled out, but arson investigators were brought to the scene.
LA County Fire Captain Brian Jordan says "Firefighters were actually fighting the fire when they heard an explosion and thought it was a pipe bomb but decide it wasn't." What they didn't know was if the buildings had a common attic so, until they were certain people could be in them safely, they asked over 150 residents to leave.
By 10pm, all were returned to their apartments except those who live in three units.
The fire remains under investigation.
Earlier Today: