Koreatown Blaze Kills Child, Injures Her Mother

A 2-year-old girl died and her mother was severely burned Saturday when a fire tore through their small Koreatown apartment, authorities said.

The fast-burning blaze quickly filled the one-bedroom flat with thick, choking smoke minutes after it broke out about 2:30 p.m., according to witnesses.

Firefighters said the child appeared to have succumbed to smoke inhalation and burns. The county coroner’s office had not yet determined the exact cause of death.

The 22-year-old mother suffered second-degree and third-degree burns on her face, neck, back and arms, fire officials said. Neither her name nor her daughter’s was released.

The woman was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where she was listed Saturday evening in critical condition. She suffered burns on 15% of her body and was being treated for smoke inhalation, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The fire apparently was started by a halogen lamp that ignited curtains next to a bed, fire officials said.

Neighbors said they called the Fire Department after hearing the mother scream, “My daughter! My daughter! . . . Help!”

Marcos Renteria, who lives across the street on Kenmore Avenue, a neighborhood of mostly Latino immigrants, said he ran inside the second-floor apartment and pulled the distraught woman to safety. She slugged and kicked him, he said, struggling to stay inside and rescue her child.

As another neighbor held onto the woman, Renteria grabbed a flashlight and went back in, he said. But he was beaten back by the blaze.

“The smoke was too thick,” Renteria said. “I couldn’t find her.”

It took 65 firefighters 13 minutes to extinguish the flames. They found the girl lying in her bed, said Battalion Chief Douglas Barry.

Yolanda Navares, who is five months pregnant, said she heard people in the hallway shouting that everyone should leave the building. She stumbled down the stairwell, clutching her 3-year-old son.

Navares and other neighbors said the injured woman worked at a downtown garment factory. Her husband was not at home, they said.

About half a dozen family members, alerted by neighbors and relatives, gathered at the scene and heard firefighters deliver the sad news.

Some cried or screamed. Others quietly hugged one another.