1 dead, 2 critically injured in Boyle Heights house fire

LOS ANGELES - One person was killed and two others were taken to the hospital in critical condition after a fire broke out at a home in Boyle Heights early Thursday morning. 

Officials with the Los Angeles Fire Department said the fire was reported just before 4:25 a.m. in the 700 block of S. Saint Louis Street. 

Cellphone video captured by Ishmael Molina showed flames shooting through the home that hit electrical wires. He said it sounded like fireworks or gunshots. 

"My brother peaked his head out the window, and we saw a house engulfed in flames and immediately, without thought, my brother just sprung into action," Molina told FOX 11.

Molina said he felt it was important to capture the terrifying and chaotic scene as evidence, while his brother went into rescue mood.  

Molina's brother helped break down a backyard fence and rescue a woman, who Molina says was nude, cold and frightened. 

"We see just an elderly woman, without any clothes, looked like she had just woken up and it looked like her son, he had no shoes on, and immediately we try to get them out of there." 

A crew of 54 firefighters knocked down the fire in 25 minutes.

LAFD officials said one of the victims was found on the porch and they were pronounced dead at the scene. Two others were pulled from the fire with critical injuries and were taken to the hospital, while two others were evaluated at the scene and did not require medical transport. 

The woman saved by Molina's brother is expected to be OK. 

The names of the victims have not been released and the cause of the fire is unknown. LAFD says the 1,200 sq. ft. home was 113 years old and there was no evidence of a functional smoke alarm.