Panorama City, Los Angeles, CA: A fire at a Walmart in Panorama City Friday evening prompted an evacuation of employees, a Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigation and response from Los Angeles Police Department officers for a report of looting.

Los Angeles Fire Department received a call around 6:22 p.m. for a structure fire in the 8300 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. First arriving companies found a four-story commercial business, a Walmart, with nothing showing from the exterior but there already was an evacuation in progress initiated by the employees, reported LAFD PIO Captain Silverman interviewed by Key News Network at the scene.

When crews went in to investigate, they found a small contents fire on the second floor in the retail space. Two sprinklers were activated that were containing the fire, and the firefighters did their job to extinguish the fire, according to Silverman. LAFD did not know specifically what kind of contents were burning.

Once the fire was completely knocked down, crews worked on turning off the water system, and began the process of removing all the water from the second and first floors, reported Silverman from the scene.

During the incident, four patients were found – two were employees and two civilians that were shopping at the store. They were evaluated by LAFD paramedics and released at the scene, according to Silverman. They declined transport to the hospital.

Department of Public Health and Building and Safety were both called out to evaluate the building before the store was able to reopen. LAFD Arson Unit was also at the scene conducting an investigation per protocol for a fire of this significance, said Silverman.

At one point LAFD received reports of people going back into the building after the evacuation was in progress and Los Angeles Police Department officers were called out to investigate, but there are no confirmed reports of looting, according to Silverman.

LAFD reported over 70 firefighters extinguished the fire in 53 minutes.