Man Killed in Koreatown Apartment Fire

A man was killed in a fire Wednesday in a Koreatown apartment with a working smoke alarm and a working smoke detector, a Los Angeles Fire Department official said

The victim was in his 20s and was part of a family of four from Bangladesh who had lived in the apartment at 247 S. Normandie Ave. for about a month, ABC7 reported.

The victim was the only family member at home at the time of the fire, according to ABC7.

The fatality was the first in a fire in Los Angeles in 87 days, the longest period this year, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Firefighters were called at 6:26 p.m. to the three-story, 36-unit apartment complex between Second and Third streets where fire was burning in one unit, Humphrey said.

The man's body was found after 53 firefighters took 18 minutes to knock down the blaze in the building built in 1982, Humphrey said.

The fire caused $120,000 damage -- $100,000 to the structure, $20,000 to the contents, Humphrey said. The unit where the man died was the only one to have direct fire damage, Humphrey said.

"It's been nearly 90 days, almost three months since the last fatality at a structure fire in Los Angeles," Humphrey said.

"Were the residents of Los Angeles able to help firefighters maintain this admirable statistic, fire deaths would be less than a quarter of those we have seen this year."

There have been 14 deaths in fires in Los Angeles this year, Humphrey said.

Firefighters distributed free smoke alarms and safety literature in the neighborhood following the fire, Humphrey said.

—City News Service