BOYLE HEIGHTS (CBSLA.com) — A house fire Thursday critically injured an elderly couple and badly damaged their home in Boyle Heights.

The couple was in a back bedroom when the fire broke out in the 3100 block of Malabar St. near Evergreen Ave. around 9 a.m.

It took firefighters 20 minutes to extinguish the flames.

“They had no working smoke alarms. They had security bars that violated the fire code because they were not open-able from the inside,” Capt. Jamie Moore said. “We had a fire that started in the living room working its way towards the back.”

Firefighters also found a dried out Christmas tree in the living room, but the specific cause of the fire is under investigation.

The man was in his 90s and the woman was in her 70s, according to a family member. They are both being treated for extremely critical injuries, authorities said.