A two-alarm fire in an Inglewood condominium building Thursday left a woman and her young daughter dead and a firefighter injured.
The blaze broke out around 2:30 a.m. inside a unit of the three-story building in the 600 block of Queen Street, said county fire Dispatch Supervisor Michael Pittman. Arriving crews found flames shooting from an upper unit of the complex, and more than 55 firefighters battled the blaze before declaring a knockdown at 3:21 a.m.
The names of the victims were not released by authorities, but family members at the scene identified them as 22-year-old Angela Reed and her 3-year- old daughter, Angelina. Relatives said the pair were living with Reed’s boyfriend, his uncle and her 2-year-old son.
“She was a beautiful person, and my friend and daughter,” Reed’s father, Lawrence Bowie, told ABC7. “(She) was well-liked. … I don’t know if I can take this, honest God’s truth, I don’t know if I can really take this.”
The entire building was evacuated as crews battled the blaze.
“I looked out the window and somebody was screaming it’s a fire, and so I just threw on something and I ran out of the house,” resident Melonee Smith told Channel 7. “And the fire was totally enflamed on the balcony. It was coming out. It was unbelievable.”
Reed’s sister told Fox 11 that Angela was “my big sister. … I don’t understand why they didn’t get out.”
County fire Inspector Randall Wright said a firefighter suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Two other people were transported for hospital examination as a precautionary measure, he said.
Two condos in the building sustained fire damage, and a third unit sustained smoke damage, Wright said. A damage estimate was not immediately available.
The American Red Cross was called to the scene to assist residents displaced by the blaze.
The cause of the fire remained is under investigation, he said.
— City News Service