Burbank house fire kills elderly woman, investigation underway
The residents of a house in Burbank where an elderly woman was killed in a fire over the weekend used candles for light because they had no electricity, neighbors said.
Firefighters responded about 9:20 p.m. Saturday to the home in the 900 block of North Evergreen Street, where witnesses said a relative re-entered the house in a desperate attempt to save the woman, who was described as being in her 70s, KTLA-TV reported.
“She just ran back in … and she came out,” said Tessa Chandler, a next-door neighbor. “By the time the firefighters got here she was like, ‘Why haven’t they gotten her out? Why haven’t they gotten her out?’”
The woman inside the burning house died from smoke inhalation, Burbank police said. She was not immediately identified by authorities.
Animal control officers were also called in, reportedly for a dead dog, the Burbank Leader reported.
The blaze, which was extinguished within 20 minutes, destroyed the house.
Although fire officials had not officially determined the cause of the blaze, neighbors said the house had no electricity and that its residents used candles for light.
“I wish something, somewhere along the line, there could have been a prevention,” Chandler said.
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