Los Angeles Fire Department reported that one man died and another was seriously injured, after an early Friday morning fire on South Sycamore Avenue South of Olympic.
According to LAFD: The Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned at 3:48 AM on July 7, 2017 to 1103 S Sycamore Avenue in the Mid-Wilshire district, where firefighters arrived quickly to find smoke showing from the first floor of a two story residential duplex.
Two older adult male relatives living in the burning unit were apparently alerted by functional smoke alarms. Though the 88 year-old uncle escaped with smoke inhalation, his 75 year-old nephew was found in grave condition among excessive storage inside the 85 year-old building, which was not equipped with optional residential fire sprinklers.
Both men were taken to an area hospital, where the nephew died, and the uncle remains in serious condition.
Thirty-five firefighters under the command of Battalion Chief Scott Anderson took just 16 min to fully extinguish the blaze, which was confined to the downstairs unit.
Four occupants of the upstairs unit, who were the first to call 9-1-1 after being awakened by their functional smoke alarms, were not injured and are expected to return to their minimally damaged residence.
A positive identification of the dead man, as well as the cause, time and manner of his death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.
Monetary loss from the fire is still being tabulated. The official cause of the fire is undetermined/accidental.
