Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the address of the home that caught fire.
A bedridden elderly man was killed in a house fire in Los Angeles on Monday morning, but his elderly wife was able to escape.
The blaze was first reported just after 10:30 a.m. at 2519 W. 74th St. in L.A.’s Hyde Park neighborhood, according to preliminary information released by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Responding fire crews arrived to find the 101-year-old house – which was not equipped with smoke detectors – completely involved in flames; it took 43 firefighters less than 15 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the fire, LAFD said.
“Despite the lack of any smoke alarms within the 101-year-old residence, an elder female became aware of the fire and was able to escape from the rear of the home,” LAFD said.
The woman, whose age and name were not immediately released, was not injured.
Her husband, said to be bedridden by LAFD, was discovered lifeless in the front of the residence. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
No injuries to firefighters were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
