Fire at Senior Housing Complex Kills Woman

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

Helen Carmody-Lebo was dead on arrival at Huntington Beach Medical Center 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 tried to put out the fire with a garden hose, was one of those treated for smoke inhalation, said a Huntington Beach Fire Department official.

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

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