Bedridden Man Dies in House Fire

A bedridden 70-year-old cancer patient died Wednesday afternoon in a fire at his Los Angeles home, authorities said.

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries, three burned by steam when they turned their hoses on the blaze. They were taken to Brotman Medical Center. The fourth twisted his ankle and was taken to Orthopaedic Hospital.

Neither their names nor the name of the dead man was released.

No official cause of the fire was given. But arson investigators said they believe the victim had been smoking a cigarette, which he may have deposited, still lit, in a trash container next to his bed.

Two Teams of Searchers

The fire in the 3800 block of South Cimarron Street was reported at 3:15 p.m. and put out at 3:32 p.m., Fire Department spokesman Jim Williamson said.

Firefighters had been told by a dispatcher that a bedridden man was inside the house. They split up into two teams.

One team went to the back of the house, where the man’s room had a private entrance, which turned out to be a steel door. These firefighters broke a louvered window and entered the house. Then they had to break through a wall to get to the man’s bedroom.

Other firefighters gained entry through the front of the house.

Both teams of firefighters apparently trained their hoses on the fire at the same time, creating so much steam heat that four of the firefighters suffered first- and second-degree steam burns.

Fire officials said they believe, in retrospect, that the victim had already died by the time they arrived. It was not clear who had called in the alarm.