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Los Angeles firefighters investigating fires inside Amazon cargo containers in back-to-back weeks

By
Dean Fioresi
Web Producer, CBS Los Angeles
Dean Fioresi is a web producer for CBS Los Angeles. He covers breaking news throughout Southern California. When he's not writing about local events, he enjoys focusing on sports and entertainment.
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Dean Fioresi

/ CBS LA

Los Angeles Fire Department investigators are looking into a pair of fires that broke out inside of Amazon cargo containers being hauled through downtown Los Angeles in back-to-back weeks. 

The first blaze was reported at around 5:20 a.m. on Thursday, April 9 as the train moved through the Union Pacific rail yard near the 3900 block of E. Valley Boulevard, according to LAFD crews. They said that it took just over an hour to fully extinguish the flames, which had engulfed dozens of Amazon packages.

Despite being aware of the fire, crews said that the train's engineer continued to drive the train into the rail yard so that they could easily access the container and extinguish the flames.

screenshot-2026-04-09-062741.png
LAFD crews working to assess a cargo train fire in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, April 9, 2026. CBS LA

The second fire happened nearly a week after the first, on Tuesday April 14, in nearly the exact same spot, at around 5:45 a.m. Similar to the first incident, the train was pulled into the rail yard, near the 500 block of Mission Road, where LAFD crews got to work extinguishing the flames. 

In this instance, LAFD said that a crane would be used to move the container to the ground so that they could "facilitate full extinguishment."

Aerial footage from both scenes showed large flames inside the Amazon containers, each of which had one door ajar as crews used firehoses to douse the inside.

A Union Pacific spokesperson said that there were no injuries reported in either incident and that the Union Pacific Police Department and LAFD were investigating the fires. 

screenshot-2026-04-15-202302.png
The burning packages inside of an Amazon cargo container on a train in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. CBS LA

Though investigators haven't yet disclosed whether they believe the two fires are connected, they said that the repeat instances was "strange" considering the shared location, timing and circumstances. 

© 2026 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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