3 dead after flames rip through home in Arcadia, spread to garage

ARCADIA, Calif. (KABC) -- Three people are dead after a fire ripped through a home in Arcadia overnight, and two others who lived there suffered minor injuries.

The fire was reported around 1 a.m. Tuesday on Tyler Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Responding firefighters encountered smoke and raging flames engulfing the two-story home.

According to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, the agency handling the investigation, the deadly fire was an electrical accident.

The flames quickly spread to the attached garage and three cars, but they did not spread to any neighboring homes.

"Firefighters found the garage area fully involved with fire. The three vehicles engulfed in flames and the house charred with smoke, with fire spreading through the hallway down into the kitchen, dining room area," said Battalion Chief Frank Garrido.

According to authorities, three people were on the first floor of the home when the fire started. Two of them managed to get out, but one of them ran upstairs to alert two other people on the second floor.

All three of them died and were found at the bottom of the stairwell. They have not been identified.

Residents living in a back house also survived. They were helped out and they were eventually allowed to return home.

Kathy Wei says she knows the owner of the property. She says he was retired and was renting rooms in his house and the back house. The owner, she says, lives in the front house. She tried to contact him, but she didn't receive a response.

Garrido said the people living in the home could've possibly been renters. He said one surviving victim mentioned they were renting a room in the home.