House Fire Claims Life of Woman in South Robertson, LA

SOUTH ROBERTON - Los Angeles Firefighters quickly extinguished a residential blaze on Saturday, January 28, 2012. However, sadly, an adult female was found deceased inside.

Firefighters arrived within four minutes to 2637 Garth Avenue, to find fire showing from the rear of a one-story single-family-dwelling. Scores of firefighters forced entry with rotary saws, and performed an aggressive attack with hose-lines through the smoke charged 1,379 square-foot residence. Simultaneously, their colleagues performed strategic vertical ventilation with chainsaws on the roof to remove hot smoke and gasses.

Although a security front door provided forcible entry challenges, firefighters quickly made access through a rear sliding glass door. The burned body of an 38 year-old female was subsequently discovered in a rear bedroom of the residence. Without vital signs of life, she was determined deceased at the scene.

A total of 41 firefighters, under the command of Battalion Chief Al Ward, confined the fire to the residence of origin and fully extinguished the flames in just 22 minutes. No one else was injured.

In examining the fire's aftermath, smoke alarms were present, however their functional status are not immediately known. Some windows in the rear of the residence were equipped with security bars and the front door was a security door, however it is undetermined if either impaired egress. The 77-year old residence was not equipped with fire sprinklers.

A positive identification of the deceased woman, as well as the precise cause, time, and manner of her death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

The Crisis Response Team arrived to provide immediate on-scene crisis intervention, emotional support and referrals to the family involved in this traumatic incident.

The cause of this 11:20 AM blaze in under active investigation by LAFD's Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section and monetary loss is still being tabulated.

Chief Ward in conjunction with LAFD Arson Investigators stated, "There have been 18 civilian fatalities in the last year and the lack of functional Smoke Alarms may have been a contributing factor in 50% of these incidents."

Fire Chief Brian Cummings provided this timely tweet to the citizens of Los Angeles earlier today, "Make sure that you have smoke detectors in your home. Test them regularly and change the batteries twice per year."

Dispatched Units: E58, RA58, E43, RA43, LF94, EM9, BC18, E61, LF92, E34, AR2, AR7, AR36, AR10, E57


Submitted by Erik Scott, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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