A woman was found dead and another woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition with severe burns sustained in a garage fire at a home in Pacoima, authorities said Thursday.
The fire was reported at 10:27 p.m. Wednesday and firefighters responded to 13574 Gager St., near Laurel Canyon Boulevard, where they found heavy flames leaping from the roof of the detached garage at the rear of the home, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Nicholas Prange.
The garage had been converted to a living space, Prange said.
Firefighters used hose lines and forcible entry techniques to open up the front of the garage in order to gain access to it for the hose streams to fight the flames. It took 32 firefighters 20 minutes to extinguish the flames. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
“With flames blowing through the roof, they were able to rescue a 39-year-old female with special needs who sustained severe burn injuries, and was transported to a local hospital in critical condition,” Prange said.
“Additional firefighters arrived quickly behind them to deploy hose lines to the burning structure. During fire attack, firefighters discovered another person inside. Sadly, an approximately 60-year-old female was found lifeless within the garage conversion. Beyond medical help, she was determined dead at the scene by firefighter-paramedics.”
Information on the woman’s identity was not immediately available.
“There was no immediate evidence of the garage being equipped with functional smoke alarms as required by law for a living space,” Prange said. “The structure was not equipped with optional residential fire sprinklers. Fire Investigators from LAFD’s Arson/Counter Terrorism section responded to attempt to determine a cause, and the scene remains an active investigation.”