Man found dead after El Monte business fire

Police say a man attempting to remove copper electrical wiring from an El Monte business died Monday morning after the building caught fire.

Firefighters responded to reports of smoke at 12114 E. Garvey Ave. shortly after 6:15 a.m. They extinguished the fire within about 15 minutes and then found the man’s body in a small room containing an electrical panel that appeared to have been tampered with, said Inspector Frank Garrido of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The man was not carrying identification, Garrido said.

“It appeared that he was tampering with the electrical wire and something set off a spark which created a fire,” said El Monte Police Lt. Dan Burlingham.

Burlingham said it was possible that the man had been electrocuted before the fire started.

El Monte police have investigated several recent incidents of copper wire thefts in the area, Garrido said. But he said the Fire Department had not seen any recent fires related to copper wire thefts.

The death is the second in less than a week connected to an incident at an electrical panel.

Last week, a veteran Los Angeles firefighter was killed and another was critically injured when sparks from a circular saw they were using to cut through a metal door to a smoking electrical vault ignited a powerful explosion.

The firefighters had responded Wednesday to reports of manhole cover explosions and smoke. They were attempting to reach the source of the smoke at the time of the deadly blast.

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molly.hennessy-fiske@ latimes.com