Woman Jumps, Family Runs as 2 Homes Burn

A Garden Grove woman jumped from a second-floor window Saturday to escape fire that destroyed her home. Just hours later, an Anaheim mother and her four children fled their burning apartment.

In the Garden Grove incident, Fire Marshal Lon Cahill said Kathy King, 36, was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom about 4 a.m. when fire swept through the bottom floor of her two-bedroom town house, at 13912 La Jolla Plaza.

King first tried to go down a stairway but was blocked by intense flames, fumes and smoke, Cahill said. She suffered a broken ankle in the 2-story jump and was taken to UCI Medical Center, where she was also treated for smoke inhalation and first-degree burns. She was in stable condition Saturday night, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Gary Campbell, 28, who was in another upstairs bedroom, escaped injury by walking a ledge and climbing down a tree.

Firefighters worked for almost an hour to keep the fire away from adjacent town houses, Cahill said. He said both floors of King’s home were gutted, and that damage was estimated at $135,000.

The fire was traced to a faulty electrical outlet in the living room. Investigator Keith Osborn said the bad outlet caused an electrical arc that ignited insulation inside the wall.

Later Saturday morning, Sylvia Gonzales, 32, and her four children fled their Anaheim apartment after a neighbor saw smoke and banged on the front door.

Fire Chief Charles Kanenbley said one of the children playing with a cigarette lighter may have started the fire.

Gonzales was taking a shower when the fire broke out, and her brother, Robert Campos, 32, was outside at the time. Both were treated for smoke inhalation at Anaheim Memorial Hospital and released. None of the children was hurt, Kanenbley said.

The neighbor, Darlene Dickerson, 26, said she was walking by the apartment, at 816 E. Balsam Ave., about 9:45 a.m. when she saw smoke.

“I went to the front door and pounded on it. When they opened it up I just screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’ and they ran out,” Dickerson said.

Damage to the apartment was estimated at $20,000, Kanenbley said.

The family was booked into a hotel and given food and money, a spokesman for the American Red Cross said.