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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 | 
On Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 2:28 AM, 3 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 1 Heavy Rescue, 4 Arson Units, 1 Battalion Chief Officer Command Team, 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team, under the direction of Assistant Chief Daren Palacios responded to a Vehicle Fire with Civilian Fatalities at 3333 North San Fernando Road in the Atwater Village area.
Firefighters arrived within five minutes to find several persons waving them down, in an attempt to direct them to a large parking lot in the rear of a commercial building, near a newspaper distribution center. A Dodge Sportsman Class-C Motorhome, tan in color, was found parked and was well involved in flames.
Firefighters used hand-lines to quickly extinguish the fire and were able to confine the blaze to the one vehicle. No other automobiles or structures were damaged.
During the initial attack, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult (gender undetermined) in the over-head sleeper area. Then during a detailed search firefighters uncovered a second body (adult male) under debris in the same vehicle. Both adults were declared deceased at the scene.
LAFD Heavy Rescue was utilized after the flames were extinguished, to move the motor-home away from a fence, providing better access for firefighters to work.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office will seek to positively identify the deceased, as well as to formally determine the cause, manner and time of their death.
The incident is categorized as a joint active investigation by Fire and Police Department officials.
No other injuries were reported. Monetary loss totaled $3,000.
(Video) (Video)
Submitted by Erik Scott
Los Angeles Fire Department
4 comments:
I wanted to give you an update on the news story from early December 23rd. The motorhome fire that killed two people near Atwater Village that early morning. The second body discovered was Jaime Rivera. He is/was my stepfather for the 32 years that I have been alive. He has a son Chris Rivera that also lives here in Oregon with me. Jaime was Vietnam War Veteran and the greatest man ever. He was not homeless, just living in his motorhome and watching the warehouse at night for his old boss in exchange to park there. The other body is unkown to us. Jaime was just up here in Oregon for three months visiting with our sick Grandma until she past.(his mother). He has a younger brother Roberto Rivera here in Portland, sister Martha in Boston, and older brother Johnny in New York. He was with my mother Peggy for over 15 years. He has three grandchildren here with me in Oregon. ages 11, 8, and 2. He will be buried at Riverside Memorial at a later date as we make the arrangements. He was my Superman! If you do another story on this please notify me so I can get it off the web. Cause of fire is still not determined.
Thank you, Joe Colorusso
Joseph, I am very sorry for your loss. The other person in that motorhome was my cousin. Her name was Anissa Enriquez, she was staying with Jaime until she found other living arrangements. She is survived by family and friends, and 3 beautiful daughters.
Brittany,
I am very sorry for your loss. We just got the final news on Thursday that it was most likely a cigarette that caused the fire and nothing else. Jaime will be buried next week and the full memorial service will take place later in March when we are all done there. Did you ever meet Jaime? I don't look at this site much, but was up late thinking about him and I look up the stories for a reminder. I am on facebook under Joseph Louis Colorusso . I hope your family is doing okay and my condolences go out to all of them.
Thank you,
Joe
Brittany:
I am very sorry for your loss. I am also thankful that your family was able to receive notification. My heart goes out to her daughters.
Jaime was a kind caring person and I am sure both families will miss them terribly.
Peggy
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