A person of interest is in custody after three men are found dead in a house fire near Los Angeles.

TEMPLE CITY, Calif. — Authorities have detained a man they call a suspect after three men were found dead and three others were hospitalized following a house fire near Los Angeles.

The fire was reported around 5 p.m. Sunday in Temple City, about 13 miles (20 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in less than half an hour and then found three bodies inside the home, the department said.

It was not immediately clear how the men died.

Two other men who were encountered outside the house were taken to hospital to be treated for burns to their hands.

Lt. Hugo Reynaga of the sheriff’s department’s homicide division said a 64-year-old man who lives at the home approached deputies at the scene.

“He’s of interest at this point,” Reynaga said. ABC 7. “They believe he was the person who started the fire.”

Reynaga said there was a language barrier and the man only spoke Chinese. His name has not been disclosed.

No arrests were made.

The people living in the house appeared to be roommates but not necessarily family, the station reported.