Person Found Dead at Boyle Heights Building Fire
Firefighters battling a predawn blaze in a vacant Boyle Heights building found one person deceased inside the structure Saturday morning.
The Los Angeles Fire Department was notified at 6:20 AM on April 11, 2020 by a door knock at Fire Station 25 in Boyle Heights, reporting a nearby building on fire at 2500 East Whittier Boulevard.
Firefighters arrived quickly to find heavy smoke from the rear of a vacant 50' x 75' one-story commercial building. As additional crews were summoned, firefighters extended hoselines into the dilapidated structure, the site of one or more previous fires, as they fought intense flames to commence a primary search of the building.
It took 86 firefighters just 27 minutes to fully extinguish the fire, the bulk of which was found in a small second-story or mezzanine area at the rear of the building. It was in that confined area during a secondary search of the premises, that they found a lifeless adult beyond medical help, who was determined to be dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported.
A positive identification of the dead person, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.
The cause of the fire remains the focus of an active investigation by the LAFD Arson / Counter-Terrorism Section.
Dispatched LAFD Units: AR1 BC1 BC13 BC2 BC5 CM22 E10 E17 E2 E202 E203 E209 E210 E25 E3 E9 EA1 EM1 HR3 PI4 RA2 RA25 RA3 RA803 T10 T2 T3 T9 UR3 UR88
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