One person was found dead inside of a burning home in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening.
Crews were called to the scene, located in the 8500 block of W. Lookout Mountain Avenue, at around 4:45 p.m. after learning of the blaze, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
It took them just over half an hour to extinguish the fire, which was burning inside of the two-story home, firefighters said.
“During fire attack, one person … was discovered deceased and remains at scene,” LAFD said. They later noted that it was an elderly adult male.
They say that they were able to keep the fire on the first floor of the home and prevented it from spreading to nearby vegetation and other homes in the area. As a precaution, a water-dropping aircraft was on scene if the flames did spread to the brush on the hillside.
Lou Oliver expected to spend this Thanksgiving celebrating paying off her mortgage. After decades of hard work, she paid it off at the end of October.
Instead, she’s sifting through her home’s ashes. It took just minutes the night of Nov 15 for flames to incinerate nearly everything inside and out. The flames sparked by a heat lamp the family left on the porch to keep their pets warm.
Oliver is grateful her grandson woke up and safely got the family out.
She contacted 2 News wanting to make sure others didn’t make a crucial mistake that cost her nearly everything she owns and the house where she raised her three kids, three grand kids and one great-grandchild.
She said. “My insurance on the house was up in October and my insurance on my car was up in November so I thought I’ll just bundle ’em all together at the end of November – big mistake!”
Right in the middle of that one month when the insurance lapsed, her home went up in flames, and along with a Christmas tradition.
“The grand kids loved my nutcrackers. Every year they say, “Gigi, are you going to put up your nutcrackers?” And I said, “don’t I always?”
The day before the fire, she started putting up her beloved Christmas decorations, including her cherished nutcracker collection. Now, all that’s left is a melted tree, scorched decorations, and charred nutcrackers on what’s left of the mantle. The nutcrackers too burned to salvage.
When Jeff Middendorf saw Oliver’s story, he suddenly knew what to do with his late wife’s collection. They were married 46 years. He told 2 News she loved her nutcrackers. She started collecting them when their daughter danced in the Nutcracker Ballet as a child.
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