A large commercial building fire has escalated into a third alarm in Los Angeles County, with flames consuming much of a scrap metal facility and sending a heavy plume of smoke into the air, according to fire officials. The Los Angeles County Fire Department said crews arrived around 2:31 p.m. Wednesday at a commercial building on the 2200 block of North Tyler Avenue in South El Monte. The fire reportedly involves P&T Metals, a family-owned industrial scrap metal recycling company, according to business information and location records. P&T Metals handles a wide range of industrial metals and operates a commercial processing facility at the site. South El Monte is located in eastern Los Angeles County, about 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, near the San Gabriel Valley.