Palmdale Residence Heavily Damaged : 2 Men Killed in Fire at Boarding Home

A fire that may have burned for as long as 30 minutes before authorities were notified killed two men and heavily damaged a boarding house in Palmdale early Thursday, investigators said.

The fire, caused by a cigarette, apparently started in a mattress, Los Angeles County Fire Department Investigator David Westfield said. The names of the victims, ages 57 and 78, were withheld pending notification of relatives.

Shared a Room

The two men shared a room next to the area where the fire started. They appear to have sufferred smoke inhalation and died at the scene, Westfield said.

One of the other 10 residents of the house suffered a mild seizure and was treated at Palmdale Hospital Medical Center and released, investigators said.

Although officials and witnesses were unclear as to when the blaze began, they said it may have burned between 15 and 30 minutes before a motorist reported the fire at 3:31 a.m.

A resident of the boarding house first tried to call the Fire Department from the building, but the fire apparently damaged phone lines.

The resident then ran a quarter of a mile to a neighboring house, but no one answered the door, Westfield said. He then ran to the road and flagged down a car.

The delay may have led to the deaths of the victims, one of whom was an amputee with a prosthetic leg, Westfield said.

The house on East Avenue Q is in a sparsely populated desert area on the outskirts of Palmdale near the community of Lake Los Angeles.

A neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, described the house as a residence that catered to low-income, elderly boarders, some of whom she said were handicapped and had previously been homeless.

Joseph Harris, who described himself as a cook and caretaker, said he was awakened by another resident yelling that a mattress was on fire. He said the smoke was so thick that he was forced to climb out a back window.

‘Couldn’t Get Through’

“It must have been burning pretty good,” Harris said. “We tried to get people out, but the smoke was so bad we couldn’t get through there.”

It took 17 firefighters about an hour to extinguish the blaze, which gutted the two-story house, an addition and several parked cars. Damage was estimated at $125,000, fire officials said.

Officials said their initial investigation indicated that the building had properly functioning smoke detectors.