Boy, 11, Takes Scary Jump to Escape Fire

An 11-year-old boy narrowly escaped injury in a fire that destroyed a West Los Angeles apartment building by jumping to safety from a second-story balcony, the boy told Los Angeles fire officials.

“I didn’t want to jump but I had to,” the still-shaken boy, Rolando Reynoso, said Wednesday as firemen examined the blackened remains of the building at 4997 Ferndale St. “I’m just glad to be alive.”

Reynoso, who stayed home from school with a cold, said he jumped after he was roused from bed by the screams of his downstairs neighbor, Adriana Pichardo, 16. The two young people were the only ones at home when the fire started about 11 a.m.

The only injury in the blaze, which also damaged two nearby residences, was to a woman neighbor who suffered minor facial burns in an apparent attempt to help the youngsters, fire officials said. The cause of the fire, which started in a storage area near an outside stairwell, was not immediately apparent, officials said.