5-Year-Old Dies in Blaze as Christmas Tree Catches Fire

A 5-year-old boy was killed and his 2-year-old sister and 22-year-old baby-sitter injured when a tinder-dry Christmas tree exploded into flames, sending fire rushing through a Sherman Oaks apartment, authorities said Saturday.

The girl, Rebecca Kopulsky, was rescued from the crib where she lay sleeping by the assistant manager of the apartment complex, who climbed through a window of the ground level apartment--braving thick, choking black smoke--to reach her bedroom, authorities said.

Benjamin Kopulsky, a kindergartner who was described by one devasted neighbor as a “beautiful, gorgeous boy,” was separated from his baby-sitter, Michelle Spector, apparently as she went to the bedroom to try to rescue his sister. After she lost track of the boy, she fled from the apartment without either child.

“She had Ben by the hand, and she went to go get the baby, and Ben let go, and ran to the front door,” said Linda Moeller, who lives upstairs from the Kopulskys, and whose apartment was also gutted by flames. “She couldn’t find him, and she got disoriented.”

Jerry Hockman, the 64-year-old assistant apartment manager, said when he realized there was someone inside, he tried to enter through the apartment’s front door but was prevented by the fire. He said he ran around to the back bedroom, where he kicked in the window.

Hockman said he could not see much through the smoke. He felt his way to the crib where Rebecca lay unconscious, picked her up and passed her out the window to a neighbor before he fell out of the window to safety.

Benjamin’s body was found behind the apartment’s front door, neighbors said. Rebecca and Spector were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

The little girl was in stable condition Saturday night in the pediatric intensive care ward of Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Spector was released Saturday from Sherman Oaks Community Hospital.

Spector, a Cal State Northridge psychology student who lived in the complex, was watching the children while their parents, identified by neighbors as Jack and Kelly Kopulsky, were out to dinner.

The parents, who were described as “devoted to each other and to the children,” learned of their son’s death when they arrived home about an hour after the fire.

About 40 firefighters responded to the blaze that was reported at 10:53 p.m. Friday.

Fire officials estimated damage to the two apartments at $100,000.

Ironically, Spector had expressed concerns about the Christmas tree just moments before the fire broke out, a friend of hers said. “She called me and she said, ‘I don’t know why they still have this Christmas tree here,” recalled Kathy Beekman, who also lives in the complex.

Apartment manager Ladd Potisk said he plans to visit every unit in the complex to make sure there are no trees left.