Woman Flees Arson Fire With Infant : Panorama City: Police say the blaze may be related to a series of recent vandalism incidents at the apartment building.

An arson fire at dawn Thursday that forced a mother to flee with her baby out a rear window may be related to a spate of vandalism at the Panorama City apartment building, authorities said.

Betty Yiga, 29, was cut on her hand as a neighbor helped her clamber to safety with her 4-month-old son, Isaac, out the bedroom window of the ground-floor apartment. She was otherwise unhurt.

“I was sleeping, and when I smelled smoke I thought my husband might have left the stove on,” said Yiga, an immigrant from Uganda. “Then I saw the door was just burning in flames. I was trying to call 911. I said, ‘I’m dying in here with my kid.’ . . . I banged on the window and yelled to a neighbor who was in the parking lot leaving for work. I passed the baby to him and I jumped through.”

Someone apparently doused the front door with a flammable liquid and ignited it about 6 a.m., shortly after Yiga’s 39-year-old husband, David, left for his job at a packaging firm, authorities said. A neighbor and firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, which caused about $3,000 damage to the front of the apartment, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Phil Weireter said.

Residents and investigators said there could be a connection between the fire and recent acts of vandalism. Residents blame some of the incidents on suspected gang members who often walk through the parking lot behind the building.

Cars have been broken into and a pair of boots left outside an apartment near the Yigas’ was set on fire, residents said. On Wednesday afternoon, rocks were thrown through the window of an apartment two doors away from the Yigas’, and the man who lived there had an angry confrontation with two passersby who he believed were responsible, residents said. Investigators said the Yigas could have been a random target or the arsonist may have intended to burn another apartment.

The apartment manager and residents of the small, working-class building in the 9100 block of Van Nuys Boulevard said the Asians, blacks, Latinos and whites who live there all get along. But Los Angeles police were investigating whether the Yigas may have been victimized because they are black.

Van Nuys Division Detective Mel Arnold said he had no information to indicate that the arson was racially motivated.

“I’m expressing cautious optimism that it’s not a racial crime,” Arnold said. “But we are going to keep a close watch on the investigation.”

Police will assign extra patrols to the area to make sure the family remains safe, Arnold said.

David Yiga said he has lived in the apartment since last year without problems. On Thursday morning, a neighbor helped him move his family’s belongings to a vacant apartment in the building while his wife and son rested in another family’s apartment.

Yiga said the family is in shock, but he also expressed gratitude to his neighbors.

“They helped,” he said. “I feel good about that.”

Fire inspectors determined that some smoke detectors in the building did not sound to warn residents of the fire and they issued an order to the manager to have them checked, officials said.