Two dead, 25 evacuated in Echo Park apartment fire
Two people were found dead and 25 others were evacuated after a fire broke out in a two-story Echo Park apartment building early Thursday.
The fire started around 12:15 a.m. in the 1000 block of North Bonnie Brae Street, near Echo Park Lake, authorities said. When firefighters crews arrived on the scene, they were met with intense flames coming from the building, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
It took more than 100 firefighters just under an hour to extinguish the flames, he said.
Afterward, authorities said, firefighters found two people dead inside the building. One was an elderly female, the other was a man in his 20s, said Los Angeles Police Officer Gregory Baek.
He said the victims lived in different units on the second floor of the building.
Humphrey said that because of the cold weather, Fire Department officials also found shelter for about 25 people evacuated from the building, and perhaps neighboring buildings.
Authorities said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, and that homicide detectives and arson investigators are on the scene.
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