Four Injured in Los Angeles Koreatown Apartment Blaze

KOREATOWN - Four persons were injured - one critically, when an apartment fire erupted Monday evening in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles.

A series of frantic 9-1-1 calls beginning at 8:14PM on September 17, 2012 brought the Los Angeles Fire Department to 504 South Normandie Avenue in Koreatown, where they discovered smoke and soon intense flames, visible from the lowest floor of three apartment levels over parking.

Photo by @EMAMD on Twitter

With reports of one or more residents trapped on the fire floor, and deadly smoke and heat filling the center hallway style building, the first of 72 LAFD responders braved oppressive conditions to push back the flames, as their colleagues swiftly forced entry into six apartments near the fire in a methodical search under zero-visibility conditions for those reported missing.

Firefighters found and rescued an approximately 28 year-old man from an interior hallway near the well involved apartment. With full thickness burns to nearly 85% of his body, he was transported by LAFD Paramedics in critical condition to an area hospital.

Other Firefighters found and rescued an approximately 58 year-old woman from within the smoke-charged building. With significant smoke exposure, she was transported in serious condition to a nearby hospital by LAFD Paramedics.

The fire was confined to the apartment of fire origin and an adjacent interior hallway, with flames brought fully under control in just 21 minutes.

Fire Department ambulances were later used to transport an approximately 45 year-old man with a foot injury, and a fourteen year-old girl with minor respiratory distress, both in good condition, to area hospitals.

No other injuries were reported.

Monetary loss to the 24-unit building is still being tabulated. The cause of the blaze remains under active investigation.

Dispatched Units: E29 T29 E229 RA29 RA829 E6 E52 E211 T11 EM11 BC11 BC705 E61 BC5 RA6 RA52 EM1 E226 T26 E13 E11 E261 T61 DC1 SQ21 EM13 BC18 T3 E203 RA3 RA803 T27 E227 UR27 UR88 BC1 UR3 RA13 RA811 AR1 AR11 AR10 AR23

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

Follow @LAFD and @LAFDtalk on Twitter and find us on Facebook

Article any source