Three people were injured and five homes were destroyed after a massive fire at a construction site early Tuesday morning in South Los Angeles.
More than 140 firefighters responded to the blaze at 1585 E. Vernon Street around 3:25 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
a family escaping the #fire in south #LosAngeles early today. The video was taken by Yostin Calvillo. @knxnews pic.twitter.com/4ZelBvQPGb
— Jon Baird (@KNXBaird) November 28, 2023
“A total of seven buildings were impacted by fire with five of them deemed a total loss,” LAFD spokesperson Margaret Stewart said. “The count for residents unable to return to their homes due to damage is 17.”
Three people were injured in the fire. A 66-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman were hospitalized with serious burn injuries, fire officials said.
Jerardo Diaz told KNX News' Jon Baird his parents were the ones hospitalized.
“They took my dad to a hospital because he’s not that degree burned, but it was just...a little bit of burn like on the right side,” he said. “Plus he had two strokes. So he couldn't be able to walk and I just picked him up from the house and I took them to a safe spot.”
His mother, he said, had a little bit of a burn on her head.
A 30-year-old man was evaluated at the scene but declined to go to the hospital
One man told KNX News’ Jon Baird his townhouse was impacted by the fire and lost his two dogs.
Kelly, a woman who lives three houses down, said she saw the flames from her window.
“I could see that it was coming…that it was coming close to my neighbor's house and I'm like, ‘oh my God, it must be the construction,’” she said.
It took firefighters an hour and 18 minutes to extinguish the flames.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
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