An apartment fire in Palms has claimed the life of a 60-year-old woman Friday afternoon, it was reported by the Los Angeles Fire Dept. (LAFD).

The blaze, reported March 7 at 1:54 p.m., took place within a unit of the second floor of an apartment building at 3463 Clarington Avenue in Palms, located in between National and Palms Boulevards near the 10 Freeway.

Firefighters knocked the apartment fire down within 17 minutes, according to the LAFD’s Cody Weireter, and did not initially find anyone injured. Fire officials announced moments later a deceased body was discovered where the apartment fire took place.

LAFD has not yet announced the cause of the fire or of the victim’s death.

Coincidentally, LAFD officials held a press conference a few hours earlier at City Hall to launch a smoke alarm campaign dubbed “Fire Burns. Smoke Kills.”

The mission of the campaign is to educate residents of “the critical importance of having functioning smoke alarms in … homes.”

“The community is encouraged to test their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms monthly and to change the batteries in conjunction with changing their clocks as part of Sunday morning’s Daylight Saving Time change,” LAFD official said in a released statement.

According to news reports, the Palms apartment building had smoke alarms, but fire officials are still determining whether they were functioning.

Since Jan. 1, LAFD has reported 12 fire-related deaths.

Earlier this week, a South Los Angeles apartment fire reportedly claimed the lives of a woman and her 1-year-old son. Another fire in the same area just weeks earlier reportedly claimed the life of a 98-year-old woman.

The identity of the women who died in Friday afternoon’s apartment fire has not yet been released. LAFD has not reported whether any firefighters were injured while putting out the blaze.

Stay tuned to WestsideToday.com for potential updates to this story.