Woman, 63, Dies in Fire at Apartment Complex

A 63-year-old woman died in a Huntington Beach apartment fire early Wednesday, and two would-be rescuers were treated for smoke inhalation, officials said.

Helen Carmody-Lebo was pronounced dead on arrival at Huntington Beach Hospital after suffering burns and smoke inhalation.

Firefighters responded to the fire at the Emerald Cove senior housing complex, in the 18200 block of Parktree Circle, at 6:22 a.m. An official said the fire was extinguished within nine minutes.

Charles Kenyon, 28, who had been trying to put out the fire with a garden hose, was one of those treated for smoke inhalation, a Huntington Beach Fire Department official said.

“There was a lot of smoke, and the apartment was rendered uninhabitable,” Fire Department spokeswoman Martha Werth said. “The woman was found in her bedroom, where the fire is believed to have started.”

Battalion Chief Jacques Pellet said the victim’s husband was in Indiana on business and has been contacted.

Kenyon broke through a window in an attempt to save the woman, officials said. He also awoke some of the tenants, including the victim’s 87-year-old mother, who lived in an upstairs unit.