LOS FELIZ— The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office has identified the victim found in the aftermath of a fire that burned three vehicles as 83-year-old Warren Loo. It remains unclear whether Loo was already dead before the fire or if he perished in the fire; the cause of death is still under investigation.
On Thursday, May 18, three vehicles and a detached garage were set ablaze behind a residence at 2030 North Edgemont Street. Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters fully extinguished the flames and found an adult male body – later identified as Loo – inside one of the vehicles, LAFD reported.
At around 1:12 p.m., LAFD responded to three vehicles on fire next to a two-story structure behind a residence near Ambrose Avenue. By 1:30 p.m, 46 firefighters were called to the scene to battle intense flames that extended from the vehicles to the adjacent two-story structure behind the main house. LAFD firefighters took 52 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the flames threatening the main house and other properties, LAFD said.
“It [was] a detached garage with living quarters on top of it – or a shop of some kind – which had three vehicles parked in front of it that seemed to be on fire which extended to the structure itself and got into the attic,” an LAFD investigator told ABC 7. “The firefighters were able to start working on the structure, extinguish the vehicles and keep the fire confined to the original building.”
Firefighters extinguished the fire before it could affect the main house, as well as surrounding properties. No other injuries were reported.
The Los Angeles City Coroner’s Office is still investigating Loo’s cause of death.