2-Year-Old Killed as Fire Guts Floor of Apartments

A 2-year-old girl was killed Monday afternoon when a fire gutted the first floor of a Wilmington apartment building.

The body of the toddler, whose name was not released pending notification of her family, was found after the fire was extinguished about 2:50 p.m., Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said. Dispatchers received the initial call about the blaze at 1318 N. Wilmington Boulevard at 2:29 p.m.

The first fire engine that would have been sent was not available because of the department’s “rolling brownout,” caused by budget constraints, Battalion Chief Dean Cathey said. An alternate unit was available less than three-tenths of a mile farther away, lengthening the response time by no more than 10 or 15 seconds, he said. Three units responded to the fire. “It’s a very difficult judgment call on anyone’s part to say whether that 10 or 15 seconds would have . . . prevented the fatality,” Cathey said.