Fire Abruptly Ends Honeymoon : Couple Lose Everything but Each Other in Anaheim Blaze

For Roger and Melody Karsting of Anaheim, the honeymoon ended at 3:15 a.m. Thursday.

“We woke up and heard people shouting ‘Fire!’ ” recalled Roger Karsting. “We got out as fast as we could. All I was able to grab were a few wedding presents. Everything else is gone.”

The Karstings were married June 28. They were honeymooning in their residence at the Casa de Valencia Apartments, 2633 E. La Palma Ave., when a fire, believed caused by illegal fireworks, gutted half the apartment complex early Thursday.

On Sunday, the Karstings were among the 200 displaced persons from that apartment fire being processed by the American Red Cross for disaster assistance. Another six to eight persons became temporarily homeless because of other holiday weekend fires, a Red Cross official said.

Roger Karsting, 21, a driver for a plastic company, and Melody Karsting, 20, a secretary, filled out forms Sunday at the Red Cross temporary processing center at Sunkist School, 500 N. Sunkist St., Anaheim.

They told Flo Tarlton, Red Cross director of service centers for Orange County, that they were newlyweds and had escaped with only the clothes on their backs and a few presents. The Red Cross official nodded her head sympathetically, telling them, “This is what it means when they say (in the wedding vows) ‘for better or for worse.’ ”

Tarlton and Nina Lozano, a Red Cross volunteer from Laguna Hills, helped the Karstings with paper work. The couple left the emergency center with vouchers for clothes and food. They didn’t need emergency housing--they’re staying with Roger Karsting’s parents in Buena Park--which some Anaheim hotels are volunteering to those left homeless by the fire.

Melody Karsting said that her wedding dress was among the casualties. Only a microwave cart remains “and I don’t know how that made it through the fire--the microwave melted,” she said.

Heard Someone Yelling

Her husband recalled the quick sequence of events of the 3 a.m. fire. “We sleep with our bedroom window open,” he said. “She heard some yelling ‘fire’ and woke me up. I looked out the window and saw the fire going. We got out as quickly as we could.

“We got up to the top of the freeway in time to see the roof fall in on our apartment.”

Independence Day held little celebration for the couple this year. “We didn’t have too good of a Fourth of July,” Melody said. Added Roger: “I think the Fourth of July would be more enjoyed if you went to an Angel game and watched the (fireworks) show. Let it (fireworks shows) be done by professionals.”

It is believed that an illegal bottle rocket landed on the wood shake roof of the complex, setting off the fast-moving fire, which destroyed 40 apartments and damaged 30 more in the 156-unit complex and caused $2.2 million in damages.

Almost 100 fire-displaced families have been assisted in Orange County over the holiday weekend, said Harry Huggins, spokesman for the American Red Cross in Orange County. He said that most of those given aid were from the Anaheim apartment fire. The temporary processing station for fire victims will again be open today at the Sunkist School, according to Huggins.

Roger and Melody Karsting said that all that matters is that they survived and still have each other. Melody Karsting put her arms around her husband and pecked him on the cheek as they conferred with the Red Cross officials. They smiled at each other frequently. Life, they said, goes on.