12-Year-Old Boy Dies, 3 Injured in Fire at Arleta House : Explosion: Passersby and the homeowner rushed to help the victims. Two men had been fixing a water heater. A boy, 3, was also hurt.

A 12-year-old boy died and three others were badly burned when an explosion of unknown origin touched off a fire that swept through a garage and house in Arleta on Wednesday.

The boy was unable to escape, but two men and a 3-year-old boy fled through a window of the three-bedroom house on Pierce Street between Stanwin and Arleta avenues. Neighbors and passersby rushed to aid them, dousing the three with cold water until paramedics arrived.

The two men had been hired to fix a water heater and replace a kitchen floor, said Pedro Sanchez Venegas, owner of the house. The boys were believed to be related to the men.

Both men suffered second- and third-degree burns over 80% of their bodies. Fidencio Mendez, 44, was in extremely critical condition Wednesday night at County-USC Medical Center. The other man, 41, whose name was not immediately available, was listed in serious condition at Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley. The boy, Noel Reyna, was listed in stable condition at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles.

The explosion occurred shortly before 3 p.m., apparently in the garage, sparking the fire, which raced into the adjoining kitchen, Los Angeles Fire Capt. Jim Hall said.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation. Damage to the house was estimated at $23,000.

Venegas, 65, was outside the house at the time of the explosion. Venegas said he rushed to the window of his bedroom to help the men and boy escape.

He said he grabbed each one in a bear hug, yanking them out and onto the front lawn. The victims were cut by broken glass, and a stunned Venegas still wore his bloodstained shirt as he described the scene to neighbors and reporters.

Venegas lives at the house with his daughter and two grandsons, who learned of the fire when they returned from lunch at a nearby fast-food restaurant.

Maria Vazquez, an Arleta resident who was driving by, helped aid the victims.

The burns on the men’s arms were especially severe, Vazquez said. “The skin was hanging off,” she said.

Vazquez still held a tennis shoe and bits of clothing that neighbors pulled from the surviving boy. “We wrapped him in a sheet and turned on the hose,” she said.