2 Children Die in Fire in National City

Two children died in an apartment fire here Tuesday afternoon.

Four-year-old Jaimie Mortensen and her 3-year-old sister, Sherry, were found in the rubble and ashes left from the fire that consumed the apartment they shared with their mother and her boyfriend at the corner of B and 8th streets, National City police said.

Linda Mortensen, 27, was in another room when the fire started and escaped the blaze uninjured, police said.

Mortensen told police she tried to save her two daughters but was overcome by heat and smoke. She then ran out of the one-bedroom apartment and went to a friend’s business across the street for help, police said.

She told investigators she suspects that her two children were playing with matches when the fire started, police said.

No other injuries were reported in the blaze, which started shortly before 4 p.m. when most residents were away from the five apartments in the building.

By the time firefighters arrived about 4:15 p.m., the blaze had destroyed Mortensen’s apartment, but they kept the fire from spreading to other apartments and businesses in the building.

Elizabeth Taylor, 75, the building’s caretaker, was home when the blaze started next door.

Tom Gilbert and Miguel Padilla, two employees of Bailey’s hardware store, which is on the first floor of the building, broke into Taylor’s apartment and helped her downstairs after smelling the smoke from the upstairs fire, said Ron Schlichtenmeyer, the store owner.

Schlichtenmeyer said his workers did not know that children were trapped inside the building.

National City fire and police officials are investigating the cause. There was no estimate of damage late Tuesday.

Residents of the building were not allowed to return to their apartments Tuesday night. Housing was provided by the Red Cross.