Fire Blamed on Tree Lights Is Fatal to 1 and Injures 3 : Home blaze: Iron bars on windows may have prevented an escape, official says.

The lights of a Christmas tree appear to have sparked a fire that killed one person, injured three others and gutted a family home Monday night.

The dead person was so badly burned that the identity and gender could not be immediately established, a coroner’s official said.

One teen-age girl identified as Maria Sanchez was listed in serious condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. Two other victims were at UCI Medical Center in Orange, their identities and conditions unknown.

Firefighters first received word of the blaze at 1720 W. Wilshire Ave. at 7:38 p.m. More than four dozen firefighters converged on the house, putting out the flames by 8:15 p.m.

But by then, the one-story wooden house was destroyed--with one person dead and three others burned.

Firefighters said they believed at least eight people were living in the home. By late Monday night, the identities and whereabouts of each resident were not known.

The family had tried to stay safe from crime by installing bars on all the windows of the home. But those bars might have prevented a safe escape from the fire, Fire Department Battalion Chief Tom Skelly said.

Fire officials would not confirm the source of the fire. But at least two witnesses said it appeared to have started in the Christmas tree.

One neighbor, who asked that his name be withheld, said that as flames shot from the windows, he saw a man running from the house yelling, “It’s the tree.”

Adela Mendoza, who lives nearby, said a neighbor identified only as Arturo related to her what family members told him as he helped drag them from the burning house.

“He said it started in the Christmas tree, in the living room.” she said. “All the family, they were in the bedrooms, and so they didn’t see anything, and when they come out they see the tree, all on fire.”

Alma Molina, who lives across the street, was stunned at how fast it all happened. She said she heard screams at 7:30 p.m. and saw people running from the house.

“It happened real quick and the flames were really high,” she said.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido, said, “This is obviously a very tragic thing that’s occurring here, especially with Christmas and the Christmas tree having ignited the fire. But it’s specifically the type of problem we are trying to address with the overcrowding ordinance.”

The city has twice tried to pass an overcrowding ordinance, and the latest ordinance is pending before the Fourth District Court of Appeals.

“I would like the people who are fighting us in court to answer to the same questions that we are having to answer here.”

Santa Ana has the highest overcrowding rate in Orange County.