VENICE - Firefighters surmise the lack of functional smoke alarms may have forced a Venice woman to jump to safety from the second floor of her burning home Sunday morning.

The Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned at 8:46 AM on October 28, 2012, bringing the swift response of thirty-nine firefighters to a burning two-story home at 20 Anchorage Street in Venice. LAFD crews arrived quickly to discover four off-duty colleagues using a garden hose to hold the spread of flames, while rendering aid to the home's sole occupant. The woman suffered moderate injury to her ankles when she leapt from a second-floor balcony to escape the blaze filling both floors of her home with thick, hot smoke.

First arriving firefighters extended hoselines within the home to make an aggressive and well-coordinated interior attack on the flames, holding the fire to the first floor living room and extinguishing the flames in just 12 minutes.

Los Angeles Firefighters later determined that smoke alarms in the home were not functional, delaying a critical warning that prevented the woman from knowing of the fire in its early stages, when she could have likely made quick and simple escape without injury. Responders agree that without such warning, the fire could have taken her life.

The injured woman was taken to an area hospital by LAFD ambulance in fair condition, and no other injuries were reported. Five adults displaced by the fire, were referred to the American Red Cross for temporary placement assistance.

Loss from the blaze was limited to $40,000 ($25,000 structure & $15,000 contents). The cause of the fire is attributed to an electrical malfunction in a living room wall outlet, that led to the ignition of adjacent upholstered furnishings.

Dispatched Units: E263 E63 T63 E67 RA867 E62 RA62 E205 T5 EM9 BC4 BC9 E59

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department