Two-year-old twin boys who were pulled out of a burning house in South Los Angeles have died and their father was being treated Wednesday for critical burns.
The fire was reported about 9:05 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of East 113th Street, between Central Avenue and Avalon Boulevard, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey, adding the one-story, three-bedroom home that was decorated for the holidays was “well-involved” in flames when firefighters rolled up.
In addition to the two children, the other victims include the boys’ father, who suffered critical facial burns, and a woman, believed to be the children’s grandmother, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries. They were taken to a hospital, where the boys died, family members told reporters at the scene.
A 4-year-old girl was rescued from the fire by a neighbor prior to the firefighters’ arrival, Humphrey said.
The grandmother and another woman, believed to be the wife of the injured man and the children’s mother, were said to be outside of the home at the time of the blaze, he said.
Eighty-six firefighters responded and knocked down the fire in 20 minutes, Humphrey said.
“There was no immediate evidence of functional smoke alarms within the heavily damaged and well secured home, at which firefighters had to force entry through security doors and window bars,” Humphrey said. “The residence was not equipped with optional fire sprinklers.”
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
