3 Kids Found Locked In Bedroom Rescued After California Building Catches Fire; Parents Arrested

A California couple has been arrested after police rescued three children, one as young as 3 years old, from a burning apartment. The children were found locked inside a room.

Burbank Police arrived at the home after getting reports of an apartment fire Thursday, KABC-TV reported. Officers saw smoke coming from the second floor of the residential unit. Neighbors told them there were young children trapped inside. Officers stormed inside after hearing the cries of children.

Cops found three children locked inside a bedroom and rescued all of them.

"Without hesitation, these five officers made their way through the apartment and came upon a locked bedroom door where the children were still heard screaming," Burbank Police Department sergeant Brent Fekety told the outlet. "The officers forced that door open, picked up the three children, and brought them to safety outside of the apartment, saving all three."

The children, aged 3, 5 and 6, were sent to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Meanwhile, firefighters managed to put out the flames. The cause of the fire is not yet known, KFI reported.

Police located the parents of the children, identified as Aldo Prado and Jennifer Ray, a short distance away from the apartment. The couple told cops they locked the children inside the room to visit a local convenience store. Both Prado and Ray were arrested and booked for felony child neglect. They are being held on a $100,000 bond and are due to appear in court on Friday.

In a previous incident, three children died in a housefire in Brazil after their mom locked them inside their home and went out partying. The fire erupted due to a short circuit from a ceiling fan. Neighbors rushed to the house after hearing the children's screams and tried to rescue them but failed to enter the house as it was padlocked. Firefighters quickly arrived but the children, aged 4, 2 and 8 months, had already burned to death by then. The mother was booked on charges of child neglect.