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An elderly woman is in critical condition, suffering from smoke inhalation and burns, and another woman was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after a fire gutted a Riverside home tonight.
Three Riverside police officers and two Riverside firefighters who rescued residents inside the home at 427 Audubon Road were also taken to the hospital.
According to property records, the house is owned by Raymond and Dolores Benes.
One of the men suffered an ankle injury; the rest suffered smoke inhalation. According to Riverside Fire Chief Kevin Mulligan, all of the emergency workers are “doing well.”
Police received two 911 calls from the home just before 6 p.m., according to Mulligan. He was not certain who placed those calls. When police officers and firefighters responded four minutes later, they found the house engulfed in smoke and flames.
Flames were particularly heavy at the rear of the brick split-level home, Mulligan said. It’s believed that the fire started at the rear of the home, but no cause has been determined.
Emergency crews found the elderly woman unconscious in a main-floor bedroom, Mulligan said. The other, younger woman who suffered serious smoke inhalation, is pregnant, according to Mulligan, who was unsure of the womens’ ages.
An elderly man was also home at the time of the fire and was not seriously injured, Mulligan said.
The house sustained substantial damage from fire, smoke and heat, particularly on the main level.
About a dozen fire departments responded to the fire. The state fire marshal is investigating the its cause.
