Blaze in building kills 3 people

Woman and 2 children die in an apartment complex that was engulfed in flames, officials say

A fire at an apartment complex in West Covina early Sunday left a woman and two children dead, police and fire officials said.

Neighbors saw smoke and fire coming from a unit in the complex in the 1900block of East Amar Road just before 1 a.m. on Sunday. For about 30 minutes, the fire grew in intensity, with the unit fully engulfed by just after 1:30 a.m.

West Covina police officers who got there attempted to get into the unit, but flames blocked them, the city's department said in a statement. Waiting for firefighters to get there, they evacuated the rest of the building.

Once firefighters arrived, neighbors told them someone was trapped inside the unit that was on fire. They attempted to douse the fire as quickly as possible, but once the firefighters were able to get inside, they found the three people dead, according to the statement.

The victims were only described as a woman and two children. Their ages and names were not available Sunday. The coroner's office had not yet identified any of the victims.

KTLA Channel 5 reported the children were a toddler and a child said to be less than a year old.

Daryl Thompson, 25, said he has lived in the neighborhood for about a year. He came home at around 2a.m. to find his street crowded with emergency vehicles — fire trucks, police cars and ambulances.

Thompson said neighbors in the surrounding apartments had gathered near the scene after they were evacuated. One woman was weeping.

“It was heavy,” Thompson said of the news of the deaths of the woman and children. “It shook the whole community.”