2 PEOPLE BELIEVED
DEAD AFTER FIRE AT 17-UNIT INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA APARTMENT. CAUSE AND ORIGIN OF THE FIRE IS UNDER
INVESTIGATION
January 29, 2015,
Two people were believed to be dead and a firefighter
sustained a minor hand injury after a fire ripped through a 17-unit apartment
in Inglewood early Thursday morning, officials at the scene said.
About 55 firefighters battled a blaze at an Inglewood
apartment on Jan. 29, 2015. (Credit: OnScene)
Firefighters responded to a blaze in the 600 block of Queens
Street (map) around 2:30 a.m. L.A. County Fire Inspector Randall
Wright said.
About 55 firefighters worked nearly an hour to knock down
the two-alarm blaze, and fire officials remained on the scene as of 5 a.m.
An assistant fire chief at the scene told KTLA two people
were found dead in a single unit, but Wright could not confirm the deaths.
After the blaze was extinguished, those who lived at the
three-level apartment recounted efforts undertaken by their neighbors to alert
everyone to the fire.
“We just woke up, somebody was yelling fire,” one resident
told KTLA. “We looked out, we saw unit two – the balcony was engulfed in flames
and we just started yelling, ‘everyone get out.’”
A second resident said one neighbor ran to their car and
honked its horn repeatedly.
Two people were believed to be dead after a fire ripped
through an Inglewood apartment on Jan. 29, 2015. (Credit: OnScene)
“I’m very, very grateful for them,” the woman said. “I was
totally asleep and the horn honked and honked, and I was awaken and angry ….
and when I awoke I could see my bedroom was orange from the flames from
across the way. So I’m eternally grateful.”
Although one resident said he had smoke alarms inside his
apartment, multiple residents told KTLA they did not hear any alarms during the
ordeal.
Another resident said she believed the two people who were
said to be dead lived with the building owner, but were not the owner himself.
The injured firefighter could be seen being treated at the
scene, video showed. His injuring were minor, Wright said.
The cause of the fire and extent of the damage was not immediately
known.