Jason Kandel

Search Continues for Human Remains Thought to Be Inside Burned Home

Firefighters said they would resume their search Saturday for human remains that may be inside a burned mansion in Mount Washington.

A fire ripped through a 9,000-square-foot hillside home Thursday night. Three tenants had to be pulled from the burning home and a 74-year-old woman was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, officials said. The cause of the fire was not known.

The structure was so badly damaged that fire officials said its walls were "teetering."

"There is still currently fire moving up the inside of those walls, so we have to be very cautious about how we proceed," said Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Tim Ernst. "So we're actually going to have to start dismantling the building from the top down so we can get to the void where we believe the missing occupant is located."

That made it unsafe for search teams to go in. Searchers believe they might have found remains, but they didn't know whether they were human.

Authorities sent several cadaver dogs through the window of the second floor of the home on Sea View Avenue to search on Friday.

Neighbors say an 84-year-old man owns the home and rents out rooms to more than a dozen tenants.

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Witnesses said the owner warned the others about the fire, but then was seen going back into his bedroom and shutting the door. They suspect he might have gone back in to rescue a litter of puppies.

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