Officials: L.A. Inferno a Preview of the 'Big One'

A major fire in downtown Los Angeles produced flames that could be seen for miles and heat so intense firefighters had trouble getting it under control.

L.A. leaders point out Monday's inferno could be a small taste of what's to come if a bigger disaster strikes. That's one reason they're taking new steps to prepare for earthquakes.

An apartment complex under construction caught fire next to L.A.'s main downtown freeway. It spread to two adjacent high rise buildings.

"You're talking about a blow torch of heat on two major high rises in the downtown Los Angeles area," Los Angeles firefighter Davis Ortiz said.

More than 250 firefighters battled the flames. Miraculously, there were no injuries.

"We had the intense heat that was affecting the freeway, that was affecting the high rise, and to get resources and everything down here was very difficult," Los Angeles fire chief Capt. Rick Godinez explained. "And then to know that a high rise was starting to take off behind you -- that is an extreme situation."

This extreme situation came up in a discussion about another extreme danger -- preparing for the next big Los Angeles earthquake.

In a news conference where Los Angeles leaders announced a far-reaching plan to help the city survive in a major quake, seismologist Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey said, "We had a fire this morning; imagine 1,600."

Officials believe the "big one" could produce up to 1,600 fires in Los Angeles alone in a region that's very dry and vulnerable because of an historic three-year drought.

"The biggest risk to our lives is posed by our older buildings because the harsh reality is that no building code in the world is retroactive, and however much we improve the building code, it doesn't make older buildings disappear," Jones said.

L.A.'s new plan recommends fortifying the electric power grid at the fault lines that travel across Southern California and also recommends additional safety precautions to protect the water supply.