One person dead in Monday night house fire in Highland Park, LAFD reports
A 29-year-old man was found dead in a Highland Park home after a fire Monday evening, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The man was identified as Mark Olmedo of Los Angeles and was listed as a Latino patient by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
Firefighters responded to the call around 11:03 p.m. at the 200 block of South Avenue 52 and were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby homes. It took 40 minutes for 30 firefighters to put out the fire, according to LAFD spokesperson Nicholas Prange.
A witness, Kylar Loya, told OnScene.TV he saw smoke in the air and then noticed fire coming out of a single window of the home when he first arrived on the scene. He managed to get the front door open and heard music playing in the house, but didn’t immediately see anyone in the home or any furniture. Loya said he and a friend called 911 to report the fire.
“A bunch of kids started climbing in and started to try and get someone out of the house,” Loya said. “I don’t know if they were trying to save the man who allegedly lived in there. They said one old man lived there.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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