Fireworks Set Anaheim Apartments Ablaze : At Aid Center, Fire’s Victims Assess Losses

“I remember hearing a big blow, like an explosion. Nobody was knocking on my door, but I remember the sight of the eerie glow. I’ll never forget that sight.”

As Tibor Fernbach, 65, opened his apartment door early Thursday, he saw a 25- maybe 30-foot wall of flames to his left. He shut the door and ran to his bedroom, clad only in a robe and slippers. Without thinking, he grabbed a pair of socks and the keys to his car and apartment.

“For the life of me I don’t know why I didn’t take my wallet or other more important things,” Fernbach said.

The fire, reportedly started by illegal fireworks, erupted in a 156-unit Anaheim apartment complex, causing $2.2 million in damage and leaving 40 families homeless.

Evacuation Center Busy

Many of the families spent most of Thursday in a Red Cross emergency evacuation center at Sunkist Elementary School, two blocks from the apartment complex. They lounged on stretchers, tried to hide from the heat and waited for counseling and vouchers for emergency food, clothing and overnight lodging.

Barbara Lohman, a Red Cross volunteer relief coordinator, said 130 people had registered at the shelter, which opened at around 5 a.m. Thursday morning.

Many who lost their homes and belongings will be staying in hotels in Anaheim and eating in restaurants that accept the special Red Cross coupons. The fire victims were also given money to buy clothes and shoes.

Firefighters said about half the apartments in the 156-unit complex were undamaged. But some of the residents in the others, like Mary Gerry, had no insurance and now have virtually nothing.

“My apartment’s been completely destroyed, gutted,” Gerry said. “I’d only been there three months, and I had brand-new everything.” Gerry said she hadn’t even managed to save her purse.

Several tenants said they thought the flames would never threaten their own apartments.

“We thought they’d have the fire put out by the time it reached ours,” said Charlene Waller. “It started clear down at the other end of the building. But then it just spread along the roof shingles.”

The Wallers’ apartment was a complete loss, firefighters said.

“As far as I’m concerned,” said Joe Montoya, a resident of the complex for eight months, “if the city was on the ball and had more water pressure, there’d be a lot better chance of putting it out, and I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Archie Holton said he was awakened by the sound of firefighters sawing the roof.

“When I first saw it, the flames could have been contained in an area this big,” he said, indicating a patch four feet square. But I’ve been told that they just didn’t have enough water pressure, even to slow it down.”

(Fire officials said there had been a problem with low water pressure for a few minutes after the first firefighters arrived. The pressure problem was being investigated, officials said.)

Holton praised Jaime Elizondo, the 7-Eleven mini-market clerk who called the Fire Department, then ran to the burning building to pound on doors and alert residents.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that if that kid had not come over, people would have died. No doubt,” said Holton.

“It was right outside and you could just see the flames. They were about as tall as the tops of the telephone poles,” said Elizondo from his home Thursday afternoon. “I only knocked on four or five apartments. All I did was wake up a couple people.”

Elizondo said he became aware of the fire when a deliveryman came into the store saying he had seen flames from the freeway and suggested that they try to alert the building’s residents. Elizondo ran to the apartment complex, and the deliveryman continued on his route.

“I just don’t feel like I did that much,” said Elizondo, who refused to have his picture taken.