Eight people were injured, and two of them critically after a fire blazed through a twenty-five-story apartment building in Los Angeles.
The fire started on the sixth floor in one of three buildings at the Barrington Plaza complex around 8:30 a.m. Los Angeles Fire Department reported.
Soon the fire spread and caused the residents to run for their lives as the thick and dark smoke and flames were taking over their homes.
Crews worked to extinguish the fire; the wind was not in favor, going up to 35 mph.
Hundreds of firefighters from several agencies responded to the accident and managed to put the fire under control in less than one and a half hours.
One of the eight injured people had life-threatening injuries, and another one had severe injuries. The youngest victim was a three-month-old baby.
The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center; there is not a precise number of how many residents were relocated.
The residents described the situation as chaotic; people were panicking, running, and knocking on their neighbors’ doors.
The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that some people jumped to safety.
For now, the cause of the fire is not precisely known, and according to Chief Ralph Terrazas, the fire “appeared to be suspicious.”
Investigators are working at the scene, checking if the fire was related to another one that started earlier in the morning at a high-rise office building, a few blocks away.
No one was into custody in connection with the fire, nor there was an identified suspect, a Los Angeles Police Department official informed at a late-morning news conference.
Personal injuries in such situations are not uncommon. Victims don’t need to have burn injuries to hurt themselves while trying to escape the fire.
If you were in a similar situation, call our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers today.
Source: https://cw39.com/news/nationworld/8-injured-in-los-angeles-high-rise-apartment-fire-tmw/