1 Killed, 7 Injured In Hotel Fire

LOS ANGELES, CA — A fire at the Venice Hotel in the Mid City area killed one man and seriously injured seven others early Friday morning, while forcing a 60-year-old woman to jump from the second story to safety. The fire shut down a portion of Venice Boulevard.

One victim is in critical condition and two others are in serious condition following the fire that broke out just after 2 a.m. at 8686 Venice Boulevard, near Cattaraugus Avenue. Firefighters arrive to find several rooms of the 28-unit hotel ablaze, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The blaze was later designated a greater alarm fire.

"Fire investigators have determined the cause of the fire to be accidental, due to a space heater being too close to combustible materials," Nicholas Prange, also of the LAFD, said in a statement late Friday morning.

Paul Bisland, 62, of Los Angeles died at the scene, according to the coroner's office.

Resident Narayana Cabral lived at the Venice Hotel for 19 years with his 60-year-old mother, who he said had to jump from a second-floor unit to safety when flames erupted.

"I got out the building, she was still stuck in there," Cabral told NBC4. "I heard her screaming for me, so I ran around the building to try to get to her, (but) there was so much smoke, so she had to jump out the window. She hit the ground hard, pretty concussed, swollen eye. Then I had to tear a fence down for her to be able to make it over, then I made a barricade for her to climb over... and I drove her to the hospital and she was in a lot of pain."

Cabral said his mother was hanging from a ledge, when her hands slipped and she landed on the sidewalk below.

A man died at the scene, and a man and a woman who had been hospitalized in grave condition later were upgraded to serious condition. A man was hospitalized in fair condition, and another man was treated at the scene for a minor injury. A firefighter was treated for a "non-life threatening" respiratory issue, Humphrey said.

The fire department has not confirmed the report the woman jumped to safety.

A total of 105 firefighters extinguished the flames in 39 minutes and a knockdown was declared at 2:43 a.m., Humphrey said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Eastbound lanes of Venice Boulevard were closed in the area to accommodate firefighting vehicles.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.