Firefighters tackling a blaze in a South Los Angeles home last night discovered a woman inside the residence unconscious in the bathtub who had apparently passed out after helping her teenage son escape.
The fire was first reported at 7:24 p.m. Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. When firefighters arrived, they learned the teen boy had escaped through a window at the urging of his mother, a 42-year-old woman who the LAFD say "reportedly turned toward the seat of the mounting flames" after ushering her son out.
The LAFD searched the nearly 1,000-square-foot home, and finally found the woman in the bathtub, where she had passed out, and was suffering from burns on about 50% of her body. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
The teenager sustained minor burn injuries. Two Los Angeles Police officers also suffered minor burns in the blaze.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, as is if there were functioning smoke alarms in the home, and if the window bars impeded the woman's escape.
