BATON ROUGE - Three people escaped the Sunday morning fire that killed two men at a house on Hollywood Street.

The two men were unable to escape the blaze at 5151 Hollywood, which started by unattended cooking, fire officials said.

When firefighters arrived, flames were coming from every window and door of the house. They tried to find the two men who remained inside, but were unable to rescue them.

“Our crews aggressively entered the structure and unfortunately two victims were found deceased inside of the home. Three victims were able to escape before the fire department arrived,” said Fire Chief Michael Kimble.

The fire was under control 24 minutes after the 7:24 a.m. call reporting the fire.

One of the people who escaped told firefighters he had walked away while cooking and returned to find the fire. 

“Some type of pot on the stove is a result of what caused this fatal fire,” Kimble said.

The house is a total loss, but firefighters were able to protect other nearby structures, including a church.