5-Year-Old Burned in Apartment Fire Dies

A 5-year-old girl found unconscious on the floor of a burning apartment building in Huntington Park on Tuesday night died and a 3-month-old girl who was pulled from the flames remained in critical condition, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said Wednesday.

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fast-spreading fire, which drove one mother to leap from a window while clutching her 2-year-old daughter. The mother broke a leg and an arm in the jump, but the daughter was uninjured, Battalion Chief Devin Trone said.

On Wednesday, a makeshift memorial stood in front of the charred two-story apartment building at 7853 State St.

Authorities did not release the girl’s name. But the tributes and flowers left at the small shrine were addressed to Samantha.

She suffered third-degree burns on most of her body and died shortly after arrival at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. Firefighters had found her in an apartment hallway.

“With the intensity of the heat in such a small space, it’s easy to understand why she perished,” said Edward Osorio, public information officer for the Fire Department.

Firefighter Mathew Levesque found the injured infant after he heard faint cries in a bedroom. He rummaged around the ground and felt a baby wrapped in blankets.

“It was a very stressful situation, and it has been emotional since then,” Levesque said.

The baby remained in critical condition at St. Mary Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit in Long Beach.

The blaze started about 9:30 p.m. Residents of the 10-unit apartment building said they heard an explosion and glass breaking.

Juan Avila, 28, and Anthony Bobadilla, 32, saw flames and grabbed fire extinguishers.

When they opened the door to one of the apartments, they were driven back by the blaze.

“All we could do was hold the fire back maybe a minute,” Bobadilla said.

A 13-year-old girl also jumped from a window and later complained of leg and arm pain, and a 10-year-old boy suffered burns on his feet.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control within 30 minutes. It caused $550,000 in damage to the building and contents, Trone said.

Authorities said four apartment units were destroyed, although the entire building was condemned as unsafe.

On Wednesday afternoon, residents were allowed to remove clothing and Christmas presents from apartments that had not been destroyed.