Elderly woman dies in Carson house fire; husband in critical condition

CARSON, Calif. (KABC) -- A 69-year-old woman has died and her husband remains in critical condition after their house caught fire in Carson on Thanksgiving.

The first-alarm fire broke out around 10:20 p.m. in the 2500 block of E. Adams Street. Crews knocked down the blaze around 10:50 p.m.

Investigators ruled out the possibility of arson and believe the blaze may have stemmed from an electrical problem.

The house appeared to be in pack-rat conditions, and the sheer amount of material in the house was making it difficult for investigators to do their work.

"In some parts in the house, it's probably about a foot-wide in the hallway, so any person, even myself, it was very hard to get through there," said Sgt. Derek Yoshino with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "And the average depth of items in there is probably anywhere from 3 feet to 5 feet high."

Arson investigators were on scene trying to pinpoint the exact cause of the fire but said it appeared to be accidental. Authorities said they could not find any smoke detectors in the property.