CA Apartment Fire Leaves Three Dead

Nov. 18--SAN JOSE -- The fire tore through the family's small apartment as they slept through the darkness before dawn.

Soon, the husband and wife and their two children would awaken to find their home overcome with smoke and flames -- and neighbors would be roused by their desperate cries for help.

The surreal scene unfolded rapidly in a quiet, close-knit neighborhood early Saturday after the blaze gutted a second-story apartment in a fourplex on the outer edges of downtown, leaving the Vietnamese-American father fighting for his life -- and his wife and children dead.

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San Jose Fire Department crews were called at 4:57 a.m. to the apartment building on South Ninth Street near Reed Street, Capt. Joshua Padron said.

The response was quickly upgraded to a second alarm, then a third, after firefighters got reports that people were trapped inside the burning building, Padron said. Firefighters arrived to find the back of the apartment building engulfed in heavy flames and smoke.

There were nearly 100 firefighters on hand at that point, according to San Jose fire Capt. Mike Van Elgort.

"At the time -- when we first got here -- that wasn't enough," he said. "We had a lot of risk, a lot of potential injuries."

Firefighters dashed into the building and removed four people, three of whom were found in the same room, according to Van Elgort. Despite efforts to revive them, two of the people -- identified by neighbors as siblings -- were pronounced dead at the scene. The youngest victim was a 14-year-old girl and the older one a 21-year-old man, according to the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner. The young man was a student at San Jose State University, relatives said.

Their parents were rushed to a local hospital, where the mother later died. She was 48, the coroner's office said. The father was listed in extremely critical condition late Saturday afternoon.

Thuc Tran, a cousin of the father, confirmed that the mother passed away around noon Saturday.

"It's a huge loss to us and to our Vietnamese community," he said. "This is a very sad story for us."

Fire investigators have determined that the blaze began in the kitchen, but they've yet to determine a cause. Though smoke detectors were found in other parts of the building, it's unclear if the apartment had working smoke detectors, Van Elgort said.

"These are the fires that depend on working smoke detectors to get people out," he said. "In this case we're still investigating if those smoke detectors were operational.

"For whatever reason, these poor people were not woken in time to get out."

The fire was contained to only one apartment, but the entire building was evacuated. Some apartments suffered smoke and water damage, according to fire officials.

Shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday, about 10 residents and neighbors of the damaged fourplex gathered at the intersection of South Ninth and East Reed streets bundled up against the morning chill in heavy jackets, caps and blankets from the Red Cross, which provided aid to the displaced. By noon, most firefighters had left the scene, and residents of the other apartments in the building were packing their belongings into vehicles.

Federico Solis, who has lived next door to the burned apartment building for 12 years, said he found out about the fire when he heard one of the tenants, the sister of the critically injured husband, screaming for help. The sister lives in an apartment downstairs, Solis said.

"On this street, most of the time, the kids and high school kids go back and forth. Happy, drunk sometimes and very loud," he said. "That's why at some point everybody kind of ignored the noise happening. Because they thought it was drunk kids.

"We first saw the disaster and then the firemen bringing all the bodies down," said Solis, 45. "We were in shock."

Jomar Lacsina, who also lives next to the apartment building, said he awoke to screams at about 5 a.m.

"Someone was yelling 'Fire! Fire! Fire!'," he said. "So we got out and started looking around and saw that it's right next door to us."

The blaze was already raging by the time he went outside, said Lacsina, 39, who knocked on doors with other neighbors to tell people to get out.

"It was a huge fire," he added. "I can't believe it went that quick. Really scary scene."

Lacsina described the family, whom he has known for about 12 years, as very hardworking, kind people. The wife, he said, had several jobs.

"She was always cooking, always smiling," Lacsina said.

The couple's daughter was a nice young girl who was always helping her mother, according to Lacsina.

"Thinking about them, it's just very sad," he said.

Solis and Lacsina said they were not aware of any issues or complaints about fire safety or lack of inspections at the property, which they said was well-maintained by the owner.

San Jose Councilman Raul Peralez called the fire, which occurred in his district, "extremely devastating."

To Peralez, the Saturday morning tragedy was a gruesome reminder of the August fire that claimed the lives of two grade-school children and an adult at Golden Wheel Mobile Home Park.

Now, once again, the city will be tasked with helping the surviving family members get back on their feet.

"My office is going to do our part now, much like we did with the last fire, to try to make sure this family is supported, the survivors are supported," Peralez said.

San Jose officials can temporarily house the survivors in city-owned properties, and they can help raise funds for the family, Peralez said.

After the August fire, Peralez and other city leaders organized fundraising efforts to help secure permanent housing for the displaced family, and to cover the funeral expenses of their loved ones.

Specific donation efforts for the victims of the South Ninth Street firehad not yet been finalized Saturday afternoon, but Peralez suggested residents who want to help donate to the San Jose Firefighters Burn Foundation, which supports burn survivors and their families.

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