A two-alarm fire gutted a large South Bay commercial building late this afternoon.
The blaze in the 300 block of Highland Avenue in National City erupted shortly after 4:30 p.m., a dispatcher said.
Emergency personnel arrived to find heavy black smoke and flames pouring out of windows on the wooden structure, which housed several businesses and possibly some top-floor apartments, according to fire officials.
Crews were still pouring large amounts of water into the blackened building from the ground and on extension ladders nearly an hour after the blaze broke out, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
