A man in his late 60s apparently jumped to his death Sunday while trying to escape fire in a two-story garden-style apartment building in Hollywood, authorities said.
He suffered traumatic injuries and was “beyond medical help” before firefighters arrived, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Nicholas Prange.
The fire was reported at 3:40 a.m. on the 13000 block of Fairfax Avenue, Prange said.
Furniture blocked the doorway to the second-floor unit, which firefighters said appeared to have been placed there intentionally as a barricade. It also slowed the initial response of firefighters.
Firefighters didn’t find anyone else in the unit, and no one was taken to the hospital, Prange said.
Forty-four firefighters brought the flames under control in 21 minutes.
Both the Los Angeles Police Department and the LAFD’s arson unit are investigating the cause of the fire and the circumstances of the man’s death, authorities said.