Crime & Safety

Mother, 4 Children Escape From Burning Monrovia Home

Five people had to be evacuated from a house fire on South Encino Avenue Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured.

A mother and her four children had to be led out of their burning home by a police officer Tuesday after the duplex unit in the 1600 block of South Encino Boulevard went up in flames.

"We were upstairs and we smelled smoke and it was black downstairs," said Tiffany Chang, who made it out safely with her four kids.

Chang couldn't tell where the smoke was coming from, so she shut the door, called 911 and waited.

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"I didn't know for certain where the flames were," she said.

Emergency personnel got a call at about 3:21 p.m. and were told that several people were trapped inside one of two units in a two-story duplex on Encino, Monrovia Fire Chief Christopher Donovan said.

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The fire began in the kitchen of the north unit--Chang's--and spread up the stairs, Donovan said. It was knocked down shortly before 4 p.m.

The Arcadia Fire Department and Los Angeles County Fire Department assisted in the firefight, and a total of 27 firefighters battled the blaze.

Donovan did not immediately have an estimate for the extent of the damage done to Chang's home. The charred kitchen and living room of the unit could be seen from outside the structure as firefighters shoveled out ash and soot.

Chang said the fire began abruptly while she was watching television with her kids.

"I was trying to be calm so they wouldn't panic," Chang said.

She said she was especially grateful to the officer who escorted her out because he went back in and grabbed an item for her.

"He was nice enough to go and get my purse," she said. "I owe him a lot."


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