A body was found Thursday amid the burned remains of a former church that was the scene of a fire and roof collapse in North Hills.
“Los Angeles Fire Department units, including heavy equipment, arson, and specialized search dog teams coordinated a systematic search over the course of three days, and have located a body inside the structure affected by this fire,” department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz said in a statement.
Crews responded at 5:43 p.m. Tuesday to 15226 Parthenia St., two blocks east of Sepulveda Boulevard, where they found flames engulfing the two-story structure and threatening a four-story, garden-style apartment building next door, according to the LAFD.
Los Angeles firefighters battle a major emergency fire on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at a vacant commercial building on Parthenia Street between Burnet and Columbus avenues in North Hills. According to reports from the scene, 27 people were displaced from an adjacent apartment building in which 41 units were yellow-tagged. (Photo from video by Jose Gomez/KNN) Los Angeles firefighters battle a major emergency fire on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at a vacant commercial building on Parthenia Street between Burnet and Columbus avenues in North Hills. According to reports from the scene, 27 people were displaced from an adjacent apartment building in which 41 units were yellow-tagged. (Photo from video by Jose Gomez/KNN) Los Angeles firefighters battle a major emergency fire on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at a vacant commercial building on Parthenia Street between Burnet and Columbus avenues in North Hills. According to reports from the scene, 27 people were displaced from an adjacent apartment building in which 41 units were yellow-tagged. (Photo from video by Jose Gomez/KNN) Los Angeles firefighters battle a major emergency fire on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at a vacant commercial building on Parthenia Street between Burnet and Columbus avenues in North Hills. According to reports from the scene, 27 people were displaced from an adjacent apartment building in which 41 units were yellow-tagged. (Photo from video by Jose Gomez/KNN) Los Angeles firefighters battle a major emergency fire on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at a vacant commercial building on Parthenia Street between Burnet and Columbus avenues in North Hills. According to reports from the scene, 27 people were displaced from an adjacent apartment building in which 41 units were yellow-tagged. (Photo from video by Jose Gomez/KNN) Show Caption1 of 5Los Angeles firefighters battle a major emergency fire on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at a vacant commercial building on Parthenia Street between Burnet and Columbus avenues in North Hills. According to reports from the scene, 27 people were displaced from an adjacent apartment building in which 41 units were yellow-tagged. (Photo from video by Jose Gomez/KNN) Expand“Demographics of the victim are unknown at this time,” Lantz said, adding that LAFD incident command, the Los Angeles County medical examiner and Los Angeles Police Department were working together to remove the body “in a dignified manner while fire operations continue throughout the day and into Friday.”
Heavy equipment operators began demolishing the building Wednesday morning. They also removed a wall that had collapsed against the gas meters of the apartment building to allow safe access for SoCal Gas to make any necessary repairs and restore gas service to the apartments. A group of human remains detection canines “showed interest” in an area that could not be safely investigated by firefighters.
According to the LAFD, detection canines “are trained to alert to the presence of human blood, bone or tissue. An alert does not necessarily mean a body was located which is why visual confirmation is required.”
Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety personnel visited the building Wednesday to assess the fire damage.
The fire department announced that three apartments were yellow-tagged, but a report from the scene Wednesday afternoon indicated that 41 units had been yellow-tagged, meaning they sustained moderate damage and are inhabitable only on a limited basis.
Seventeen fire companies were dispatched to battle the blaze, with crews fighting the fire in the commercial building from outside the structure while firefighters worked their way floor-by-floor through the apartment complex for evacuation and location of any fire.
More than 100 firefighters extinguished the fire in just under two hours.
A woman thought to be in her 40s was taken to a hospital in fair condition for possible smoke inhalation.
Two women from the apartment building were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and third woman declined to go to the hospital for treatment, according to the LAFD.
The blaze displaced 27 people — six adults and 21 children — from the apartment building, due primarily to broken glass and smoke damage.
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The LAFD’s Arson Section was investigating the causes of both fires.
Parthenia Street will remain closed between Columbus Avenue to the west and Burnet Ave to the east through Friday, Lantz said.
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