Jan. 15--WESTLAKE -- Officers from the LAPD Rampart division are being praised for their bravery Sunday after risking their lives to save an elderly woman from a burning home.
The fire broke out around 9:30 a.m. at a home in the 1100 block of S. Westlake Avenue.
Officers Seree Rattanapichetkul and Anthony Farias, who were on patrol in the area, saw heavy smoke coming from the upper level of the home and called the fire department.
The officers helped two residents escape from the home to a safer location. They were then told there was a 89-year-old woman still in the kitchen at the back of the bottom floor.
The officers made their way through the smoke-filled home and led her to safety before going back in to make one last check of the home, according to Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Wes Burhmester.
The residents and the officers were treated at the scene for minor smoke inhalation.
"Due to the swift actions of the residents and Officers Farias and Rattanapichetkul, everyone survived the blaze and no one was seriously injured," a police department press release said.
All the furniture and items in the home were saved, according to David Spence of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
