Slumber Party Ends as Flames Char Apartment

A slumber party turned into a near tragedy Sunday morning when pre-teens playing with a cigarette lighter accidentally set fire to a Bonita apartment.

Steve Casey’s daughter was celebrating her birthday by having six friends spend the night at their apartment in the 5200 block of Robinwood Road and as part of the fun, the girls had strewn toilet paper throughout the living room. About 8:45 a.m. one of the girls found a cigarette lighter underneath a couch cushion and lit it, inadvertently setting the toilet paper aflame, said Bonita Fire Department spokesman Larry Baldwin.

Casey, alerted to the fire by one of the girls, ushered his family and the visitors to safety, Baldwin said. The fire burned quickly and the family escaped with only the clothes on their backs, Baldwin said. Casey suffered some burns on his hand and shoulders when he went back inside the apartment to make sure everyone was out, but otherwise no one was hurt.

The two-story apartment was completely involved in flames when firefighters from the Bonita Fire Department arrived, Baldwin said. Reinforcements from the San Diego, Chula Vista and National City fire departments were called in to assist in extinguishing the fire.

“There was hardly anything salvageable at all,” Baldwin said, except for a small dresser in the living room which contained the family’s photo albums and home movies. Casey and his wife also recovered their wallets. “Like most renters, they did not have insurance, so they virtually lost everything they owned,” he said.