80 Left Homeless, 14 Hurt in Hotel Fire
About 80 people were left homeless by a fire that swept through a two-story apartment-hotel in Boyle Heights early today, forcing some residents to jump from second-floor windows to escape the flames.
Fourteen people were injured--four of them seriously--when the 6 a.m. blaze gutted the red-brick Brooklyn Hotel at 2420 E. Brooklyn Ave., causing about $225,000 in damage to the structure.
Six firefighters were among the injured, suffering minor burns to their ears and arms, fire officials said.
Joe Medina, 20, said he and his brother Jesse, 24, jumped to safety from a window of their second-floor apartment.
“We heard someone yelling, ‘Fuego, fuego,’ (fire in Spanish) looked out in the hallway and saw nothing but smoke,” Joe Medina said. “We just dropped over the side.”
Some of the residents left homeless were taken to nearby Roosevelt High School, where the American Red Cross set up an emergency shelter.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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