Local News in Brief : Stanton : Disabled Man Perishes in Mobile Home Fire

A 79-year-old disabled man was killed in a mobile home fire Friday after he alerted his wife, enabling her to flee to safety.

Paramedics found the body of Thomas A. Luck in the rear bedroom of the home at the Katella Mobile Home Estates in the 8600 block of Katella Avenue, Stanton police said.

The victim had yelled to his wife, Laura, 78, who was asleep in another part of the home, warning her about the fire. He also told her to contact the Fire Department, according to Mary Carlson, a neighbor who had consoled the victim’s widow.

The couple had been married for 38 years.

Luck’s wife managed to prop her husband up in bed but was unable to lift or carry him outside. She then called for help but was forced from the home by flames that broke out in her husband’s rear bedroom, Carlson said.

The victim’s wife was treated at Midwood Community Hospital in Stanton for first-degree burns to her head and hands, then released to the care of a friend.

The 6:34 a.m. fire was caused by an electrical short in a refrigerator freezer, county fire dispatcher Mark Stevens said. The home was completely ablaze when firefighters arrived, Fire Department spokeswoman Kathleen Cha said.

Three Orange County firefighters were injured, but none seriously. Damage to the home and contents was estimated at $131,000.