As flames raged through a Ladera Heights residence early Tuesday, a mother desperate to save her children from the fire tossed them out of a second-floor window before jumping to safety out of the burning structure.
A mother saved her two children by throwing them out of a window of a burning home in Ladera Heights on May 30, 2017. (Credit: Loudlabs)
The fire erupted shortly before 1 a.m. at a two-story residence in the area of Corning and Slauson avenues, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Brown.
It began downstairs and spread to the second floor. By the time firefighters from three separate agencies responded, the entire structure was “fully involved” in flames, he said.
A family of three in the upstairs portion of the house — a mother and her two children — were awakened by the sound and smell of the fire, according to Brown.
They managed to make it safely out of the home, thanks primarily to the woman’s actions.
“Just her heroic effort of taking notice of the fire, [she] was able to get the kids out safely,” Brown said.
According to the children’s grandmother, the woman saved the children by getting them out through a window.
“It started downstairs, and she had to throw the kids out the window because nobody would help. And then she was able to jump out the window,” said the grandmother, who identified herself only as Anita. “She’s got a few cuts, the kids are OK, luckily, thank God.”
The mother received the cuts from breaking the window, according to fire officials.
Responding firefighters from L.A. County Fire, along with assistance from the Los Angeles and Culver City fire departments, were able to extinguish the blaze in 30 to 40 minutes, according to Brown.
However, the residence — which consisted of a downstairs and upstairs unit, and housed two families — was heavily damaged, he said.
The occupants in the upstairs units were the only people home at the time. Brown said the first-floor residents were away on vacation.
Cause investigators are on scene and are working to determine how the fire started.
from KTLA http://ift.tt/2rgoSqx
No comments:
Post a Comment