Update: Firefighters Find Body in Apartment Fire

Updated at 9 p.m.

Firefighters extinguished a blaze in a unit on the third floor of an apartment complex in Canoga Park Tuesday and discovered a woman's body inside.

Crews were called to 6331 N. Glade Ave. at 2:37 p.m., said Erik Scott of
the Los Angeles Fire Department. He said 45 firefighters were involved in knocking down the blaze in 13 minutes.

When firefighters arrived, a medium amount of black smoke was billowing out of one unit of the very large three-story, center hallway apartment complex, Scott said.

Firefighters drove down a back U-shaped driveway, allowing for quick
access to the unit. Firefighters used a drop-bag operation to lift hoses to the third floor and quickly extinguished the flames while others raised 35-foot-tall ladders and fought the fire from the roof.

The body of the 46-year-old woman was found sitting on the ground against a mattress in a small studio apartment. They pulled her out of the smoke-filled room, but it was too late to save her.

Scott said there were no suspicious circumstances, but noted that there
were no security doors, window bars or obvious non-fire factors that would have impeded the woman from escaping the blaze.

The 42-year-old apartment building was not equipped with residential
fire sprinklers. The presence and function of legally required smoke alarms could not be immediately determined.

The cause of the fire is under active investigation. The dollar loss was
estimated at $10,000 to the structure and $5,000 to the contents.

Scott said the woman's name as well as the precise cause, time and
manner of her death will have to be established by the coroner's office.