LAGUNA HILLS : Couple Are Rescued After $14,000 Fire

An elderly Laguna Hills couple narrowly escaped death early Monday morning when a sprinkler system in their retirement-home apartment doused a small fire that was sparked when the husband fell asleep smoking a cigarette, fire officials said.

The husband, identified by fire officials as Martin Bursrek, 76, and his wife were rescued by a security guard and were not injured in the 2:30 a.m. fire, which forced a partial evacuation of the seventh floor of the Villa Valencia Retirement Hotel in the 24000 block of Paseo de Valencia, Orange County Fire Department spokesman Will Wright said.

The husband “was very fortunate,” said Wright, a division chief fire marshal. “If it had not been for the sprinklers, he would certainly have been a fatality.”

Wright said 23 firefighters were dispatched after the manager reported the fire. However, the fire had already been doused by the sprinkler system when they arrived.

Damage to the building was estimated at $14,000.