Family’s Nest Egg Goes Up in Smoke

For Martha Hernandez, the family closet was much more than a place to store clothes, shoes and old Christmas boxes.

It was a bank as well.

Hidden in her bedroom closet was $2,500 in cash--money she’d been saving for rent and food, she said. But on Monday, fire swept through the Hernandez apartment in the 14600 block of Calvert Street in Van Nuys, leaving Hernandez, her husband and their three children homeless and burning $1,330 of the family savings.

Fire officials said the blaze was caused by Hernandez’s 4-year-old son playing with matches in the closet.

The fire caused $4,000 damage--$2,000 to the apartment and $2,000 to the contents--said Pat Marek, spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries in the blaze.

Hernandez and her three children--ages 2, 3 and 4--were in the apartment when the fire began. “I heard the little boy yelling, ‘My house is on fire, my house is on fire,’ ” neighbor Maria Moreno said.

Moreno said she called 911 while Hernandez attempted to extinguish the fire. After she realized the fire was out of control, Hernandez grabbed her three children and fled the apartment, Hernandez said.

She told firefighters about the money in the closet, and when the fire was out, they rummaged through the debris and recovered $1,170 in scorched and wet bills.

Hernandez and her family had been living in the apartment for a year. Hernandez said she planned to stay at a Red Cross shelter until the family could locate another place to live.