Burned Baby’s Mother Shares Some Lessons

Jennifer Duncan was at work on a Thursday morning when a police detective and a social service worker showed up at her desk. There had been a fire at her 9-month-old son’s family day-care center, they told her gently. Her son survived, but he was severely burned.

It had been only a few months since Duncan, 32, returned to her job after maternity leave. And now her only child, Nicholas, was in intensive care with second- and third-degree burns sustained in the June 8 fire at a Huntington Beach day-care home that killed two other babies.

“This tragedy will change our lives forever,” Jennifer Duncan said Friday in a written statement followed by a brief interview, the first comment from any of the parents of children involved in the fire at Pat Orozco’s licensed day-care home.

“For the first couple of days, we felt we could not discuss our son’s injuries or relate our feelings,” Duncan wrote. “However, due to the attention and concern this has received from the community, we felt it was time. . . .

“We have much to be thankful for. Our son survived. We can never thank Pat enough for rescuing him.”

Despite the burns to his head, face, left arm and hands, and a case of pneumonia that followed, 20-pound, blue-eyed Nicholas is expected to live. On Thursday, the child’s lungs had cleared sufficiently to remove him from a respirator, said Carol David, a registered nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit of UCI Medical Center.

“He is a fighter and is holding his own,” Duncan wrote.

Jennifer Duncan and her husband, Kevin, 34, have placed pictures of Nicholas taken before the fire on the child’s nightstand, David said. Jennifer reads to Nicholas and sings songs for him.

“His favorite song is ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider,’ ” David said. “He’s more awake now. He looks around and reaches for his mom. That’s nice to see.”

Now, a week after the fire, Jennifer Duncan’s shock has given way to a determination that there are some lessons to be learned from what happened to Nicholas. First on the list, Duncan says, is that the state should require smoke detectors in all day-care homes. Huntington Beach fire officials said the deaths in the blaze, ignited by a child playing with a cigarette lighter, could have been avoided if Orozco had installed smoke detectors.

“Parents, I urge you to check your day-care facility,” Duncan wrote. “If they have smoke detectors, make sure they work. If they do not, spend the $10 to $20 yourself.”

State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) on Thursday introduced legislation that would require smoke detectors in all day-care homes. Under current law, day-care homes licensed for fewer than seven children are required to install either a smoke detector or fire extinguisher, while both devices are required in larger day-care homes. Orozco opted for an extinguisher.

During the last week, Duncan said, she has also learned the importance of day-care liability insurance, which Orozco did not have, according to Duncan and a state licensing official. Current licensing laws say that day-care providers must either buy liability insurance or obtain a waiver from the parents. Duncan said to the best of her and her husband’s recollection, Orozco never told them about liability insurance.

Orozco, who remains hospitalized with burns sustained when she rescued Nicholas and another child, was not available for comment.

“You may feel that if you have medical insurance, you are adequately covered,” Duncan wrote. “This is just not the case. We are incurring costs we never imagined.”

While medical insurance will cover the expenses related to Nicholas’ hospital stay, once he is an outpatient, the Duncans will have to foot the bill, she said, pausing to take a reporter’s call while keeping watch over her infant at the hospital. Even when Nicholas is well enough to re-enter day care, his injuries mean that “he can’t just go into any day care,” Duncan said. “He’ll need special attention.”

And Duncan said she cannot afford to stay home with Nicholas indefinitely. “I have to work,” she said. “I don’t have any option.”

For now, Duncan plans to spend all the time she can with Nicholas. Despite the stress of the last few days, the Duncans are holding up quite well, hospital personnel say.

“The knowledge that they were the lucky ones (whose child survived) has really had a big impact on them,” said Penny Cleary, a medical center clinical social worker who has been counseling the Duncans. “Every little improvement is like a bright light for them.”

Like any parent whose child is in an accident, Cleary said, the Duncans at first blamed themselves a little for not being there when the fire occurred. “That’s always part of the initial reaction,” she explained.

Now, the Duncans are grappling with questions about Nicholas’ future, Cleary said. Will he remain emotionally traumatized by the fire? Will he be disfigured? How will the Duncans cope with placing their child in day care again?

“This family is going to do a lot of thinking and re-evaluating about what they want to do,” Cleary said. “They have a lot of internal strength . . . but it’s not easy.”

Part of the healing process for the Duncans, Cleary said, includes statements such as the one written by Jennifer Duncan. She concludes by thanking the hospital staff, co-workers and friends for their support since the fire.

“God bless everyone involved in the prayer lines which stretch from our hometown, Seattle, all across the country. Everyone’s thoughts and prayers mean a lot to us,” she said. “You always say, ‘It won’t happen to me,’ but it can. We just hope that by telling our story, kids in day care are just a little safer.”