Local News in Brief : 5th Death in House Fire
A 4-year-old girl died Monday from smoke inhalation suffered in a Montebello house fire that already claimed the lives of three other children and a young woman.
An investigation found that the Sunday morning fire at the Medina family home was ignited by cigarette ashes dropped onto a couch, fire officials said.
The latest victim, Joi Medina, died at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, hospital spokeswoman Anamaria Repetti said. Her parents, Joseph and Gloria Medina, were listed in serious but stable condition at Beverly Hospital in Montebello.
The 4:20 a.m. fire also killed their older children, Racquel, 7, and Danielle, 6; Aida Borunda, 18, Gloria Medina’s daughter from an earlier marriage; and Racquel Lopez, 6, the daughter of a family friend.
Mandie Lopez, 10, Racquel’s sister, was listed Monday in critical condition and was on a life-support system in the pediatric intensive care unit at Long Beach Memorial Hospital.
The Medinas’ 1-year-old son, Jacob, escaped injury and was staying at his grandmother’s house.
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