5 Families Lose Homes in Fires at Apartments

Fires Tuesday at apartment buildings in Chula Vista and Southeast San Diego left five families homeless.

In Chula Vista, a 3-year-old playing with a cigarette lighter started a blaze that raced through an apartment building, destroying one unit and causing severe smoke and structural damage to two others, fire officials said.

No one was injured in the two-alarm fire at the Park View Apartments, 360 Oxford St., which took five fire companies 20 minutes to contain, fire officials said.

The fire was started at about 11 a.m. in the ground-floor apartment of Robert and Lorna Jacobs, whose son was playing in a closet with a cigarette lighter, fire inspector Sam Schreck said.

The blaze raced through the apartment quickly, forcing the child and two elderly adults out of the building into a rainstorm, Schreck said.

Six people, including a pregnant women and four children, were trapped in the apartment directly above. They escaped the flames and thick smoke by climbing out of a second-story window and lowering themselves into the arms of rescuers, Schreck said.

Damage was estimated at $100,000, fire officials said. The Jacobs’ pet cat perished in the blaze.

Red Cross officials say they will house the families at hotels and provide

them with groceries and clothing until alternate housing can be arranged.

The complex is home to many Navy families, apartment manager Kathy Cox said.

Lorna Jacobs says that she and her husband, a Navy chief petty officer, were planning to buy the family Christmas tree and decorate their home for the holidays this week.

In Southeast San Diego, an apartment fire began when Christmas tree lights set a tree ablaze, a Fire Department spokeswoman said.

There was no one in the apartment when the fire began about 4:30 p.m. The blaze caused about $45,000 damage to the five-unit apartment building..

The Red Cross arranged housing for 10 adults, one child and two babies from the two families whose apartments were damaged, according to San Diego Red Cross spokeswoman Nancy Jordan.

The families were expected to stay at a hotel in National City for about a week or until they find permanent housing.