Woman dies after small apartment fire

Jeff Benson

A 21-year-old woman died Sunday after a fire scorched the bedroom of

her apartment unit at the Sundance West Apartments, on the 1900 block

of Maple Drive.

Rescuers found the victim in full cardiac arrest and began CPR and

advanced life support treatment on her, Costa Mesa Fire Battalion

Chief Christopher Riley said. She was then taken to Hoag Hospital,

where she was pronounced dead by hospital staff, Riley said.

The victim’s name wasn’t released because her next of kin hadn’t

yet been notified, an Orange County Coroner’s official at the scene

said. There were no other injuries reported.

Six engines and 21 firefighters responded to the scene, the first

arriving within five minutes of the 3:58 p.m. call, Riley said. The

victim had been removed from the bedroom and the fire had been

extinguished with water before they got there, he added.

Riley said he didn’t know who removed her from the bedroom or who

put the fire out.

“Investigators are investigating as we speak,” Riley said Sunday

night. “It will be a while because it’s a fatality, and it’ll be a

while until we have a conclusive cause of the situation. They’re

being as thorough as they can.”

Riley said he anticipated that investigators could release more

information by today.

Structural damage and damage to the building’s contents were

estimated to be $3,000, Riley said.

Onlookers outside the apartment building shortly after the fire

said they didn’t know the victim and weren’t sure what had happened.

Eleven-year Sundance West resident George Labastida said he

arrived home to a calm and quiet scene about an hour after the fire

was put out.

“Nobody was making noise or nothing,” he said. “Somebody smelled

the smoke and called about the fire. But nobody I talked to knew

about that.”

The manager of the apartment complex wouldn’t comment on his

tenant or on the fire. He did say, however, that it was the first

fire since he’d been there.

* JEFF BENSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.