Woman dies, 3 hospitalized after fire in Panorama City

One woman was killed and three others rushed to hospitals early Saturday morning after a fire tore through townhomes in Panorama City, Los Angeles fire officials said.

“Sadly one patient was beyond medical help and determined dead on scene,” the fire department said in a statement.

The surviving patients included an 83-year-old woman, a 25-year-old man, and another man whose age was not known, fire officials said. The deceased nor the survivors have been identified.

The fire was reported at 3:31 a.m. in the 9200 block of North Wakefield Avenue, fire officials said. When firefighters arrived, they found a row of three two-story townhomes, with one engulfed in flames and one starting to burn.

It took 70 firefighters 43 minutes to knock it down, and firefighters managed to keep it from spreading to a third townhome attached to the other two, according to the fire department. Arson investigators have begun working to determine what caused the blaze.