Fire burns 2 LA houses, including home of Swedish TV star

LOS ANGELES – Five people were injured, two critically, and a pet cat was killed when flames ripped through a hillside home and then spread to a neighbouring house early Thursday in Los Angeles, authorities said.

One house was the home of Swedish reality TV star Gunilla Persson, who escaped along with her elderly mother, Iris, and daughter, Erika, 14.

Persson, who appears in “Svenska Hollywoodfruar,” or “Swedish Hollywood Wives,” told The Associated Press they were fortunate and that possessions can be replaced but lives cannot. Firefighters could not resuscitate one of her cats.

Nearly 90 firefighters responded when the blaze erupted shortly after 2 a.m. in a Pacific Palisades neighbourhood with winding roads and houses on compact lots, Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said.

Crews found a couple and their two teenage daughters suffering from smoke inhalation, Scott said.

The 53-year-old woman and her 67-year-old husband were hospitalized in critical condition, he said. One of the victims suffered second-degree burns.

Scott said the elderly woman next door also suffered from smoke inhalation.

Firefighters saved a dog and cat. The flames were knocked down in about an hour.

The cause is under investigation. Officials are looking at a grassy corridor between the two homes as a possible ignition point.

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AP reporter Christopher Weber contributed to this report.