Neighbors Avenue Has More Than Its Share

Neighbors Avenue lived up to its name Monday when an accidental fire showed how handy a skilled neighbor can be.

It was just past 9 a.m. when Michael Stambough, 30, heard his upstairs neighbors fleeing their Anaheim apartment, crying that a fire was engulfing their unit.

Anna Flores, rushed her three small children to safety, away from the fire. But Stambough, after telephoning the 911 emergency number, grabbed a garden hose and charged straight into the flames.

Stambough had spent six years as a firefighter in Lawton, Okla., and he thought he knew what to do.

Anaheim fire officials agreed. By the time they arrived at the apartments in the 1800 block of Neighbors Avenue, Stambough “had the fire pretty well out before our guys even got there,” said Mike Feeney, a Fire Department investigator.

Stambough, now a construction worker, said when he arrived with his garden hose, the blaze “was rolling along pretty good. . . . It was getting ready to come out the windows.”

Flores, 26, and her children were treated for smoke inhalation, Feeney said. The four of them--Flores, her daughter, Vanessa, 2, and her sons, Brian, 3, and Adrian, 1 month, were given assistance by the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross.

Flores’ sister, Lupa Hidalgo, said the family was shaken up by the blaze but in good spirits. They are staying at a Fullerton hotel.

Of Stambough, Hidalgo said, “It was really nice what he did, how he helped her out.”

He wasn’t able to save the family’s belongings, however. Authorities estimated damage to the structure at $5,000.

Feeney said the fire was believed to have started accidentally, but the exact cause was under investigation.