Apartment Fire in O.C. Displaces 45

GARDEN GROVE — A four-alarm fire, possibly caused by illegal fireworks, raced through part of a 600-unit apartment complex Sunday, damaged 37 apartments, left about 45 people homeless and caused about $1 million in damage, officials said.

Many residents escaped possible injury when passersby saw the smoke and began alerting people by screaming, banging on doors and throwing rocks at windows.

No serious injuries were reported, officials said, although a firefighter hurt his knee while fighting the blaze at the City Plaza Apartments, 12261 Lewis St., about 3:30 p.m. Firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour before bringing it under control.

“At this point, we don’t know what caused it, but it started in the attic of one of the apartments and quickly spread because they have common attics,” Garden Grove Fire Capt. Ron Birtch said at the scene.

Later Sunday, Battalion Chief Cameron Phillips said investigators were looking into the possibility that children playing with bottle rockets might have started the blaze. Officials said they detained two female juveniles and that they were questioning them about the fire late Sunday.

Fifteen apartments were destroyed and another 22 suffered some damage, Birtch said.

When firefighters arrived, a portion of the wood-shingle roof was fully engulfed and had ignited several adjacent pine trees, which helped fuel the fire.

Juan Saldana, 34, had moved into his apartment only four months ago. He was watching a basketball game on television between the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic when a neighbor knocked on his window, screaming at him to get out because of the fire.

“I didn’t see any fire at all,” said Saldana, who spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on a nearby curb. “I don’t have fire insurance. I think I lost everything.”

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Several motorists stopped and began to help.

“When I saw the smoke, I was driving on Lewis [Street],” said Fernando Jauregui, 42, of Santa Ana, who was going home from his construction job. “I made a U-turn and came back because I didn’t see anybody running out. I was yelling and screaming for people to get out.”

Minutes later, Jauregui was joined by Luis Sandoval and his wife, Alice Marie Sandoval, of Orange, who were going home from a grocery errand.

Luis Sandoval ran to the apartment complex and joined Jauregui as they both scaled the ledges of the balconies to the second floor to help get people out. Meanwhile, Sandoval’s wife ran door to door screaming for people to get out.

“I started yelling,” she said. “I said, ‘Get out! Get out! There’s a fire!’ I did everything, I screamed, I threw rocks at windows while my husband joined this other man and they climbed up to several balconies to warn people.”

Alice Marie Sandoval, who works as a teacher’s aide at nearby Lampson Elementary School, said she was spurred to act out of concern for the children who attend Lampson and live in the complex.

About a dozen tenants living in the front of the complex where the blaze began heard the yells from Jauregui and the Sandovals, and escaped to safety. Within moments, the white smoke on the roof turned into flames. The fire leaped 15 feet into the air as it sped along the roof line, witnesses said.

“Once the flames started to show,” said Alice Marie Sandoval, “it started to get really hot in front of the building.”

Firefighters tried to break through the roof and find a spot where they could pour water and halt the fire’s movement. But as they poked through the roof, all they saw were glowing red embers, evidence that the fire was moving more quickly than they had anticipated, officials said.

Adding to the danger were unconfirmed reports that the origin of the fire might have been an illegal drug lab. But officials quickly discounted that theory.

For tenants like Mary Fischer, who had lived at the complex for 20 years, there was an emotional toll to pay for the loss of their homes, clothing and treasured possessions.

“We had just put in a brand-new carpet, and my plants! Oh, my God, my plants. I forgot about all my plants,” said Fischer, who was consoled by her daughter, Yvonne, 32.

Fischer and her daughter got out safely after hearing Jauregui yelling on the street below to get out of the building.

“We didn’t see any flames and we didn’t smell any smoke,” Fischer said.

But after being alerted, Fischer’s daughter grabbed a kitchen fire extinguisher then ran to their neighbors’ apartments and knocked on their doors.

“I don’t know what I thought I could do with the extinguisher, it was just a tiny little one and wouldn’t have helped against this fire,” Yvonne Fischer said.

Meanwhile, her mother, who was fearful that her neighbors in an adjacent apartment had not been warned, went inside her bathroom, grabbed a shower curtain rod and threw it and other objects at an open window in hope of getting their attention.

When those tenants failed to come out, she assumed they had already escaped and ran down an apartment walkway screaming, “Get out! Get out! There’s a fire.”

Another tenant, Michael Fischetti, 43, a former Orange County coroner’s employee, was in his downstairs apartment organizing photographs and negatives.

“I had no idea that there was a fire until my [smoke] alarm went off,” Fischetti said. “I looked out and I heard all this commotion from people and I knew there was a fire.”

Fischetti immediately ran next door to help his neighbor who uses a wheelchair. Luckily, the neighbor was not home, and Fischetti made his way to safety.

Dale Plueger, 24, who moved into the apartment above Fischetti’s only four months ago, in an area where the fire did its worst damage, fortunately was playing pool in a game room in another part of the complex.

“When I walked out, I saw smoke and it was lifting up pretty high in the sky,” Plueger said. “I ran over close to my apartment and the roof was pretty engulfed by then.”

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After the fire, apartment manager Thea McKenna said, “This was a blessing in disguise. No one lost their life. Anything is replaceable, except your life.”

A spokesman for the American Red Cross of Orange County said that volunteers from the Red Cross’ nursing department were being dispatched to help those people who were displaced. In addition, an estimated 17 families who lost their apartments will be given food, vouchers for clothing, other items and emergency shelter.

“This was a large-scale incident,” said Doug Gavilanes, a Red Cross spokesman, “and we will make sure that each family will be assessed as to their needs. We want to help them deal with their loss. Many of them lost all their possessions.”

Times staff writer Lorenza Munoz contributed to this report.