A man was found dead Saturday after a fire broke out at a South Los Angeles home and sent flames and fireworks into the sky.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded around 5:30 a.m. and found a detached garage in the 2400 block of 9th Avenue “fully involved with fire and explosions” and quickly extinguished the fire.
Authorities recovered large quantities of fireworks from the Jefferson Park property and discovered a dead man, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Dennis Orris said.
Orris said it was unclear if the fire killed the man or if he had died before the fire. He had no further details about the victim and said the incident is under investigation.
Video of the inferno obtained by ABC 7 shows flames rising behind a house and fireworks exploding above it, while video from OnScene.tv showed an elderly man with a bloody bandage on his leg and a woman with blood on her shirt and a bandage on her arm.
Illegal fireworks are a constant problem in the Los Angeles region, especially on the Fourth of July, when residents light up the night sky for hours on end.
Authorities have long tried to discourage illegal celebrations, which can be dangerous.
In January, a 13-year-old boy and his older brother were killed in a suspected fireworks explosion that shocked a Bell Gardens neighborhood.
At the time, officials said they suspected the explosion occurred when someone was making illegal fireworks from their home.
