Television personality Sharon Osbourne is speaking out after her daughter Aimée Osbourne was among those who escaped a deadly fire at an industrial building in Hollywood, California that housed multiple recording studios.
Aimée, who creates electropop music under the name ARO, was working with her producer at one of the recording studios Thursday afternoon when the fire broke out, Sharon shared in an Instagram post.
“They are the lucky two that made it out alive,” she said. “What happened today was beyond horrific.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a fire at a two-story building in the 6600 block of West Lexington Avenue at around 5:42 p.m. It took about an hour for 78 firefighters to extinguish the fire inside a portion of the two-story building.
Two people reported experiencing respiratory symptoms related to smoke exposure. They were evaluated at the scene, but both declined to be taken to a hospital, fire officials said in a release.
“Sadly, one person was found dead inside, as firefighters searched the structure,” they added.
Authorities did not release the identity of the person killed.
However, friends and others who worked in the building, including musician and record label owner Jamal Rajad Davis, identified him as 26-year-old Nathan Avery Edwards.
Edwards recorded, produced and mixed music under the name Avery Drift.
Jonathan Wellman, who rented a recording space in the building down the hall from Edwards, described the late producer as “a very promising talent” when speaking to the Los Angeles Times.
“It is utterly heartbreaking that someone lost their life today in this fire & we are sending our prayers to this person & their family,” Sharon said in her Instagram post.
Wellman, Davis and others said they heard no smoke detectors and saw no sprinklers go off during the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but fire officials have filed a building code complaint to look into whether the building had the proper permits to operate as a recording studio, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In her post, Sharon described the building that burned down as “a creative hub for music in Hollywood, a space that should have been regulated for fire code.”
“I really hope moving forward that buildings like this are better regulated for fire safety,” Sharon said.
“Once again, our prayers go out to the family and friends of the person that lost their life to this senseless fire,” she added.
Aimée is the eldest daughter of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, better known as Black Sabbath’s lead vocalist.
She did not take part in the Osbourne family’s famous reality TV show in 2002 as her younger siblings Kelly and Jack Osbourne did.
Associated Press contributed.