The Region : 3 Children Killed in Fire

Three children died in an accidental fire that destroyed their grandmother’s home in the Mojave Desert. “When we arrived, the house was completely involved and the roof had caved in,” Kern County Fire Department spokeswoman Robin Wright said. “After that we went in and found the bodies.” Six engine companies responded to douse the flames in the home on Sierra Highway, seven miles south of Mojave. The coroner’s office identified the victims as Irma Contreras, 3 years 11 months, Salvador Contreras Jr., 3, and Ezekial Lara, 16 months, all of Bakersfield. The grandmother, Esther de Luna, and a 16-year-old girl fled the house before the roof fell in and escaped injury.