Christmas Blazes Claim 3 Homes

The Christmas celebrations of three Orange County families turned tragic Thursday when sparks from their fireplaces destroyed or damaged their houses, leaving one man hospitalized and more than eight people homeless.

In Buena Park, a house burned to the ground after its owner stuffed the natural gas fireplace with Christmas wrappings, causing an explosion, authorities said. In Irvine, an errant spark from a synthetic log lodged under the wood shake roof of a home while family members relaxed around the fireplace; the flames eventually enveloped the entire house. And in Tustin, another fireplace spark destroyed the roof and attic of a home.

Fire officials cautioned residents to use fireplaces only for their intended purposes and to keep them well-maintained.

Describing the Buena Park fire, Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority said that “flames flashed out of the fireplace, [ignited] the Christmas tree and very quickly spread to the draperies, carpets and furniture. The house was destroyed.”

Fire authorities did not identify the owner of the home in the 5800 block of Crescent Avenue. He was taken to Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim with second-degree burns on his arms, chest and face.

A neighbor, however, identified the victim as Abel Muniz. He had reportedly moved into the house with his wife and two children two weeks before.

“He came beating at my door screaming, ‘Call 911, my house is on fire!’ ” said Ken Daily, who lives two doors down. “We’ve all been on an adrenaline rush ever since. It’s very sad.”

Brown said that Muniz is expected to fully recover from his burns and that his wife and two children--a 15-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl--are being housed temporarily by the Red Cross.

“Their Christmas toys and everything was destroyed in the fire,” Brown said.

The Buena Park fire shows the danger of misusing a fireplace by burning anything but wood, Brown said. “We highly discourage anyone from putting wrapping paper or any other combustible material in a fireplace,” he said. “That is not what it is designed to do.”

Muniz’s injuries occurred while he was fighting the fire with a garden hose, another thing fire officials discourage.

“Often these fires develop so quickly that you can become overwhelmed in a matter of minutes,” Brown said. “The fire will sneak up on you and, before you know it, you may put yourself in a bad situation.”

It took 45 firefighters about 30 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which occurred just before 6 p.m.

In Irvine about eight hours earlier, 50 firefighters responded to a residential fire that caused $170,000 in damage, destroyed that home and displaced a family of four.

A spark from a synthetic log fanned by gusty winds ignited the roof of the home of the Larsen family in the 14600 block of Bel Aire Street.

Scott Larsen, 21, said that at first he, his sister and parents thought the smoky odor was coming from the backyard, where a turkey was cooking in preparation for a Christmas gathering the Larsens have held for more than 20 years.

“But it was way too much smoke,” Scott Larsen said as firefighters tore the last of the shake shingles from the roof and neighbors dropped by with donated clothing and food.

He said he climbed on the roof and saw smoke coming from under the shingles, but the fire had already moved into the attic. The family got out when his father, Roger Larsen, discovered flames in the attic.

“By the time we figured out we weren’t going to stop it ourselves, it was really escalating,” Scott Larsen said.

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Fire officials said the combination of high winds, a wood shake roof and prefabricated logs, which emit sparks when they break apart, turned a joyous holiday into a disaster.

“Wood shake roofs, wind and fire are a deadly combination,” Brown said. “We advocate for a noncombustible roof. Would that have made a difference today? Absolutely.”

A neighboring house with a wood shake roof was briefly threatened, Brown said. Firefighters received the call at 9:43 a.m. and controlled the blaze by 10:15 a.m. An additional engine company was dispatched because of the high winds.

Winds from the northeast blew at about 20 mph for most of the day, with gusts in the canyons reaching 59 mph, said meteorologist John Sherwin of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. The winds were a contributing factor in a few minor traffic accidents, police said.

The Larsens escaped uninjured, as did their bird and cat. Red Cross officials were assisting the family, who have lived in the home in the since 1971.

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Family, friends and neighbors quickly gathered at the fire scene to console the Larsens and offer help.

“They got out alive,” said Bob Bowser of Irvine, a friend for 30 years who had planned to have Christmas dinner at the Larsen home. “But the wind just kept blowing on it.”

One couple dressed in red and green sweaters brought over a Christmas stocking. Others came with bags of groceries. And another came with her daughter to drop off clothing.

“One of the other ladies had been through a fire and she said what you need most is clothes,” a neighbor said. “We told them to let us know if they need anything.”

Brown said a screen in the chimney designed to keep sparks from exiting failed to catch the sparks from the log.

“Maintain your chimney, and do not burn Christmas wrapping in the fireplace,” he said. “That’s an explosive combination, and the fire can spread to drapes. Those fireplaces are meant to burn wood.”

The third fire, in the 14400 block of Morning Glory Road in Tustin, began about 8:30 p.m. and destroyed a roof and attic, displacing all the occupants. Brown said that fire also started with a spark from the fireplace.