Disabled Man Rescued; 30 Others Led From Fire

Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies rescued a disabled man and led 30 other people to safety during an arson fire at a West Hollywood apartment building Thursday, authorities said.

Deputies Fred Vaughn and Thomas Thompson heard a woman’s screams from inside one of the apartments in a three-story building in the 8900 block of Harratt Avenue about 12:30 a.m., a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said. They went into the smoke-filled building, where they found the trapped woman and her husband, who was partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.

The disabled man, Newton Leichter, was treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for smoke inhalation and released. After rescuing Leichter, the deputies went back into the burning building and helped evacuate another 30 residents before firefighters arrived, Lincoln said. There were no other injuries.