Pacoima Garage Fire Kills One, Firefighters Rescue Another

Firefighters rescued one woman from a burning converted garage, but another person was found dead inside, late Wednesday evening.

The fire at the 13500 block of West Gager Street was reported to the Los Angeles City Fire Department at 10:27 PM on March 27, 2024. Just two minutes later, an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance with two Firefighter-Paramedics aboard sent a radio transmission to dispatchers to add another ambulance to fill behind them on their medical response, as they just came upon the fire while en route, to see flames rising into the night sky from the rear of a property, behind a single-family home. They quickly jumped out and checked the structure, finding it to be a detached garage that was converted to a living space. With flames blowing through the roof, they were able to rescue a 39-year-old female with special needs who sustained severe burn injuries, and was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.

Additional firefighters arrived quickly behind them to deploy hose lines to the burning structure. During fire attack, firefighters discovered another person inside. Sadly, an approximately 60-year-old female was found lifeless within the garage conversion. Beyond medical help, she was determined dead at the scene by firefighter-paramedics.

Thirty-two LAFD Firefighters, under the command of Battalion Chief Logan Fields, confined the fire within the converted garage, preventing flames from spreading to other nearby homes or structures. They extinguished the blaze in just 20 minutes.

There was no immediate evidence of the garage being equipped with functional smoke alarms as required by law for a living space. The structure was not equipped with optional residential fire sprinklers.

Fire Investigators from LAFD's Arson/Counter Terrorism section responded to attempt to determine a cause, and the scene remains an active investigation. A positive identification of the decedent, as well as the specific cause, time and manner of his death, will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner.