1 dead after fireworks explosion rocks Jefferson Park neighborhood during garage fire

JEFFERSON PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- One person was found dead after a fire ignited in the garage of a home in Jefferson Park, triggering a series of fireworks explosions. A second person was injured.

Neighbors who spoke to Eyewitness News described several explosions that even shook their homes.

Citizen App video footage recorded by a passing driver showed fireworks exploding over the garage and nearby homes as tall flames and a column of black smoke rose into the sky.

Exclusive surveillance video from a neighbor captured the loud explosions echoing through the neighborhood.

"Then all of a sudden, boom, the whole place shook like an earthquake. And once it shook, I definitely jumped up, ran from the bedroom, ran to this door here, and this is my front door there, 25 steps. I opened it up, and that's when I just saw fireworks everywhere and flames," said neighbor Marian Fifi Locke.

Locke lives just steps away from the home that went up in flames around 5:30 a.m. in the 2400 block of South Ninth Avenue.

She says she opened her neighbor's door and called the tenant's name, but got no response. Officials confirmed that the tenant died in the fire, and a 30-year-old woman was injured.

The identity of the deceased person was not immediately released, but Locke described him as a man in his mid-20s who was very respectful to her.

"Very kind. Very mannerable and stuff like that. Never gave us a problem or an issue or anything like that," she said.

"It was just explosions. It shook our house, and it shook the neighbors behind," said neighbor Monica Boswell.

Exclusive video shared by Boswell shows the fireworks going off and the loud explosions, which startled her family.

"I saw the fireworks, and then I got my children out of the home," Boswell said. "Unfortunately, my dog ran out. So we lost the dog, and I have some damage to my home."

Remnants of firework packaging now litter the backyard near the home. The Los Angeles Fire Department said the fire was extinguished within 20 minutes of the firefighters' arrival.

Locke says she had no idea her neighbor was storing so many fireworks.

"It would have been different if it was just one box or one case -- these were cases. He must have had them full in his apartment, and then he stored the others in the garage," Locke said.

Los Angeles police confirmed that officers removed a large quantity of fireworks from the home.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.