On Sunday, September 24, 2006 at 11:04 PM, eleven Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, five LAFD Rescue Ambulances, three Arson Units, three Urban Search and Rescue Units, one Hazardous Materials Squad, two EMS Battalion Captains, three Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams and one Division Chief Officer Command Team, a total of 94 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel under the direction of Battalion Chief John Drake, responded to a Greater Alarm Structure Fire with Civilian Burn Injury at 866 South Norton Avenue in the Greater Wilshire/Mid-Town area of Los Angeles.
Firefighters arrived within two minutes of the 9-1-1 call to discover heavy fire showing from the first floor of a 2,768 square-foot two-story single family home.
A brisk primary search was commenced by the first-arriving Firefighters, who subsequently rescued an 83 year-old woman from the vicinity of a hospital-style bed in the home’s front living room.
The invalid woman’s adult female caretaker had earlier tucked her in for the night, sought to make her more comfortable, and then retired to her own first-floor accommodations in the rear of the house.
Just after 11:00 PM, the caretaker heard the woman scream for help, and fearing for her medical well-being, began calling 9-1-1.
As the caretaker’s call was connected to LAFD Firefighter/Dispatchers, she completed her journey to the front room, only to be confronted with flames.
With fire beginning to spread rapidly in the room, the caretaker attempted to move the physically infirm woman to a wheelchair as several properly functioning smoke alarms began to sound throughout the Victorian-style home.
The caretaker’s repeated attempts were unsuccessful however, and she was ultimately driven back by the heat, smoke and flames before being forced to flee the home unscathed.
Firefighters pulled the invalid woman from the blaze with blinding speed, but not before she sustained massive second- and third-degree burns from the swift-moving fire, which was confined to the room of origin and extinguished in just nineteen minutes.
LAFD Paramedics provided the burned octogenarian with skillful and compassionate care while rushing her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in grave condition.
No other injuries were reported.
There were no security bars or other obvious impairment to egress from the home, which was not equipped with fire sprinklers.
Monetary loss from the fire was limited to $35,000 ($25,000 structure & $10,000 contents).
The cause of the blaze is categorized as accidental and remains under active investigation by Los Angeles Fire Department officials.