Virginia Avenue Home Catches Fire

At approximately, 7:05 p.m. the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) received a call for help at a residence, located at 10017 Virginia Avenue in South Gate. Adela Palma, 39, a longtime South Gate resident, was trying to put out a fire in her backyard.

“I was in the bathroom and suddenly heard a ‘boom’,” said Palma, who upon inspecting her backyard saw smoke gathering. “It was like a firework exploding.”

Palma rushed for her garden hose as she noticed a fire was starting to grow next to her backyard garage. Her neighbors rushed in from all over to help her, before the firemen arrived within three minutes of the call.

“We saw the smoke column from the back and made out attack,” said Captain Michael Kusaba of the LACoFD. “It was mainly a bunch of clothes outside the garage that were all piled on the corner.”

The firemen put out the blaze within a couple minutes, and as of now do not know why the fire began. However, they do have some leads.

“It was possibly because of some electrical wiring,” said Capt. Kusaba, when asked about the cause.

Palma sustained a minor first-degree injury due to her attempts to fight the fire. Shed like structures, as well as an adjacent overhang to the backyard garage, were substantially damaged.

Nonetheless, Palma is surprisingly composed despite the injury and the money that will cost her to replace and fix structures on her backyard.

“Life is what is most important,” said Palma, who lives in her house with her husband and five of her children. “The life of my children is what’s most beautiful to me, as well as that of my neighbors.” 

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