Child’s Tragic Death Strikes ‘a Young Couple Struggling’

Susan and Donald Jordan, whose 8-month-old daughter died in Thursday’s fire at a licensed day-care home, are a recently married young couple from Huntington Beach who were struggling to support their new family when tragedy struck, according to Susan Jordan’s co-workers.

Susan, a slender 21-year-old, had worked for just six weeks as a receptionist for an Anaheim mortgage company, said Denise Desrochers, vice president of operations for the Mortgage Network. Donald Jordan, 24, held down two jobs, she said.

“She is a very conscientious person, very easy to get along with,” said Desrochers, who hired Jordan off the unemployment rolls last month. “She was the kind of person who seemed very good at what she wanted to do. She was willing to work.”

Desrochers said Jordan had shown her snapshots of Jessica that she carried in her wallet. “She said Jessica was a very good baby, that she slept well and that she enjoyed having her around,” Desrochers said.

Susan Jordan was at the receptionist’s desk near the office’s front door when her husband called to tell her there had been a fire at the baby-sitter’s house. The two drove to Pat Orozco’s home at 5122 Audrey Drive in Huntington Beach, where fire officials told them about the death of Jessica--their first and only child, who would have been 8 months old Friday.

Susan Jordan called Desrochers later that morning with the news.

“It was devastating for the whole office,” Desrochers said. “It was just unbelievable.”

Will Johnson, a senior loan officer, said Susan Jordan recently asked him for help with some loan documents. “She and her husband were trying to figure out if they could afford another car,” Johnson said. “They were a young couple struggling.”

Donald Jordan’s family is staying with the couple this week, Desrochers said, adding that Susan Jordan’s family is in Georgia. Johnson and Desrochers said they believe that the Jordans had been married about one year.

Fire officials said Friday that the fire was started by a child playing with a disposable cigarette lighter, which ignited an overstuffed chair in the living room. The fire spread quickly to an adjacent playroom, where firefighters found the bodies of Jessica and 13-month-old John W. Reilly IV. Both Orozco and a daughter with whom she shared the house are cigarette smokers.

Investigators also said that the deaths probably would have been averted had smoke detectors been installed in Orozco’s house. Under day-care licensing regulations, Orozco had the choice of a fire extinguisher or smoke alarms for fire protection, and she opted for the extinguisher.

Orozco was injured in rescuing 3-year-old Devon Strayer and 6-month-old Nick Duncan. Strayer was treated at a hospital and released Thursday, but Orozco and the Duncan baby remain hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns.

The Mortgage Network has set up a relief fund to help families of the fire victims. The address is 2400 E. Katella Ave., Suite 1040, Anaheim 92806.

PLAYING WITH DEATH Fatal blaze attributed to cigarette lighter. Part I, Page 1.