Stepbrother Saves 3 Children : 9-Year-Old Dies in Linda Vista Apartment Fire

A 9-year-old girl died and two women were hospitalized for smoke inhalation Monday night after a quick-burning fire gutted the downstairs of a Linda Vista apartment.

Rosa Jimenez died at 8:49 p.m. Monday at Sharp Memorial Hospital, where she was taken by Life Flight helicopter after the 7:30 p.m. fire, according to a nurse at Sharp. The San Diego Coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy today, but the nurse said the girl was near asphyxiation when she arrived.

San Diego Fire Department spokesman Rob Drake said the child’s pregnant mother, Elvira Jimenez, and Lisa Contreras, a family friend, were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center and were in critical condition.

Neighbors to the apartment in the 6700 block of Tait Avenue credited Bulmaro Sanchez, 17-year-old son of the pregnant woman, with saving the lives of three other children who were in the apartment when the fire started. They said Sanchez carried two stepbrothers, ages 6 and 4, and a 3-year-old stepsister to safety before he was turned back by the flames.

Sanchez said that the intense heat and smoke prevented him from returning to the upstairs bedrooms to lead his other stepsister and the two women to safety. Drake said that firefighters found the three victims huddled together in one bedroom.

According to Sanchez, the family was upstairs when the fire began in the downstairs living room. By the time they smelled the smoke, the living room was engulfed in flames, Sanchez said.

“Everybody was crying and frightened,” Sanchez said. “I only had time to take the three children out. When I tried to run upstairs to help my mother, my sister and Lisa, I was turned back by the flames. It was just too hot.”

Pedro Vargas, the husband of Elvira Jimenez, rushed from his job at a restaurant in Fashion Valley to UCSD Medical Center to be with his stricken wife.

The couple’s three younger children were taken to the apartment of other relatives in the same complex.

Fire Department officials said they were not sure what caused the fire, which was contained in the apartment’s lower level. They did say that it appeared to be accidental in origin and estimated damage at $30,000.

Sanchez, who lived in the burned apartment, said there have been problems with the electrical wiring and the gas in the apartment building, where his family has lived for more than a year.

“For the past two months we’ve complained to the manager about the wiring and the gas,” he said. “It was very difficult to plug in something because whenever we did that, we would get shocked. And the gas range in the kitchen always smelled of gas. We’ve complained about these things to the manager, but they were never fixed.”

Relatives of victims said the apartment had no smoke detector.

Cristina Stark, a family friend, said that Elvira Jimenez told her two weeks ago about the problems with the apartment’s wiring and gas but said her complaints were unheeded by the manager.

The apartment complex is being rehabilitated.

Fire and police officials said Monday night that they did not know who owns the apartment units.

Attempts to contact the apartment manager were unsuccessful. A woman at the unit reportedly occupied by the manager said he was not available for comment.