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WEST COVINA (CNS) - Authorities Monday continued their efforts to determine the cause of a fire that killed a woman and two small children in an apartment building in West Covina.
West Covina police officers and firefighters sent to the 1900 block of East Amar Road at 12:54 a.m. Sunday found the apartment engulfed in flames, according to the West Covina Fire Department.
"Due to the severity of the fire, officers were unable to gain entry," according to a fire department statement. "Officers conducted evacuations of surrounding apartments. Fire department personnel made an aggressive fire attack due to reports of persons trapped. Once the fire was extinguished by fire personnel it was determined that three people, believed to be an adult female and two small children, were found deceased."
Authorities have not identified the people who were killed.
According to KTLA5, the fire took the lives of a girl about 3 months old, her 3-year-old brother, and their grandmother.
The children's mother could be heard screaming about the loss of her family, according to KTLA5, which reported that neighbors tried saving their lives before first responders arrived, but the flames were too intense.
"I saw through the window a big fireball come down through that apartment over there and the first thing I reacted, the kids, you know, they have kids and I guess we panicked and we just all went outside and were trying to put it out," a neighbor named Victor said.
"The mother losing both her children is just horrific," another neighbor, Eddie Mireles, told KTLA5.
A GoFundMe page established for family had raised more than $8,500 as of Monday afternoon.