Apartment Building Fire Kills 4-Year-Old

A 4-year-old girl died in a fire in a Cudahy apartment building Tuesday, and a man who escaped the flames was taken to a hospital with chest pains, authorities said.

The fire broke out in a second-story unit of an apartment complex on Clara Street shortly after noon, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson.

Firefighters arrived to find the unit engulfed in smoke and flames. The man, and several other adults and children -- all members of the girl’s extended family -- “made it out uninjured,” Haralson said.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze in about seven minutes, then found the girl’s body in a back bedroom, he said. The girl’s parents were not present; her relatives had been taking care of her at the time, Haralson said. Authorities were withholding her identification until the parents could be notified.

Firefighters believed the blaze was accidental and were investigating the cause, Haralson said.