Surf City woman dies in fire

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Flames and smoke swept through a Surf City

apartment early Wednesday, killing one woman and sending two would-be

rescuers to the hospital.

The fire scorched Apt. 102 of the Emerald Cove senior housing complex

Building No. 9 in the 18200 block of Parktree Circle, where city

firefighters responded at 6:22 a.m. and extinguished the flames within

nine minutes, said Fire Department spokeswoman Martha Werth.

Although firefighters put out the blaze quickly, the apartment’s

occupant, 63-year-old Helen Carmody-Lebo, was pronounced dead on arrival

from a combination of burns and smoke inhalation.

“There was a lot of smoke and the apartment was rendered

uninhabitable,” Werth said of the fire. “The woman was found in her

bedroom where the fire is believed to have started.”

Fire investigators do not know the specific reason for or the amount

of damage caused by the blaze and are continuing their investigation.

Werth added Emerald Cove tenant Beatrice Linsky, 87, and Surf City

resident Charles Kenyon, 28, attempted to save the victim, but suffered

smoke inhalation.

Linsky, fire officials said, was a neighbor of the fire victim living

on the second floor of the complex, while the backyard of Kenyon’s house

faces the burning apartment.

Kenyon called the Fire Department and also broke through a window in

an attempt to save the woman, only to be overcome by smoke before

locating her, officials said.

Both Kenyon and Linsky were taken to Huntington Beach Medical Center

for treatment.

The Emerald Cove apartment complex comprises about 200 units reserved

for senior citizens, with 20 apartments in Building No. 9. Apt. 102 was

the only unit damaged by the fire, Werth said.