Yule Lights That Charmed Girl, 5, Contribute to Fire That Killed Her

Cecilia Servin loved to watch the string of Christmas lights that twinkled outside her bedroom window. Nearly every night the 5-year-old Reseda girl had fallen asleep mesmerized by the colorful glow, her family said.

But the sparkling lights apparently led to her death. Fire investigators said Sunday that they believe the light strand was plugged into an overloaded electrical outlet, igniting a blaze that engulfed Cecilia’s bedroom Saturday night. After the flames were extinguished, the child’s body was found in her bedroom closet.

The girl apparently was trying to hide from the flames that melted her collection of plastic dolls, blackened the white walls of her bedroom and turned her zoo of stuffed animals into charred lumps of fabric, fire officials said. The blaze spread to other rooms of the house in the 7000 block of Bothwell Road, causing an estimated $45,000 in damage.

On Sunday, dozens of Cecilia’s relatives and their friends gathered at the nearby house of the child’s grandmother, mourning the loss. Parents Arturo and Rosa Servin secluded themselves in the back bedroom. Arturo Servin could be heard moaning the name of the brown-eyed kindergartner whose life centered on her Barbie dolls and Cabbage Patch Kids.

Several relatives walked two blocks to survey the burned house, picking through what was left of Cecilia’s possessions: a construction paper Santa Claus she had made, a school progress report giving her generally good marks, a soggy stuffed rabbit.

“She was barely starting to understand how life works,” said cousin Ricky Hernandez, 16.

Cecilia was asleep on the bottom bunk of the bed she shared with her 10-year-old sister, Rose, when the blaze broke out shortly before 7 p.m.

Her uncle, Miguel Bravo, who lived at the house, had just returned from work when he heard the shrill scream of the smoke detector. He said he yelled for Rodrigo Cano, Cecilia’s 9-year-old cousin who also lived at the house, to run for help while he woke Cecilia’s father, who was asleep on the living room couch.

Bravo did not know his niece was still inside. By the time the family realized Cecilia was missing, quickly spreading flames had engulfed her bedroom, Bravo said. The fire was extinguished in about 15 minutes.

Rosa Servin was notified about the fire while attending a prayer service and rushed home with Rose.

“When they told us she didn’t exist any more, we started crying,” Rose said Sunday, hiding under blankets at her grandmother’s house.