Firebombing Hurt Pregnant Woman, Say Neighbors : Van Nuys: Arson investigators would not comment on the cause of the blaze. The victim was burned on her right arm.

A pregnant teen-ager asleep on a couch in her family’s apartment in a gang-plagued Van Nuys neighborhood was burned in what neighbors and friends of the victim described as a firebombing early Monday morning.

Susan Rodriguez, 18, was treated for burns on her arm and released from Valley Presbyterian Hospital about eight hours after the 3:28 a.m. incident in the 7900 block of Kester Avenue. The child that she is carrying was uninjured.

“She is OK,” said hospital spokesman Hal Wurtzel. “She had second-degree burns on her right arm. She is 6 months pregnant and the baby is fine.”

Fire Department arson experts were investigating the incident but would not comment on what they believe caused the fire. Residents near the apartment and friends of the victim said some kind of firebomb was apparently thrown through the front window of the apartment. Rodriguez and other members of her family declined to comment on the incident.

“She doesn’t know what happened,” said a man who answered the door at Rodriguez’s apartment and said he is a friend who lives nearby. “She heard the glass break and then fire was on her.”

The incident occurred in a ground-floor apartment where Kester dead-ends in a cul-de-sac off of Blythe Street--an area where numerous gang members live and street drug dealing has been a long-term problem. Gang graffiti marks the building where Rodriquez lives and the door to the apartment.

Fire Department spokesmen said the fire in Rodriguez’s apartment was put out by neighbors before firefighters arrived. Damage was limited to the living room where most of the furniture and other belongings were destroyed.

Albert Dominguez, a resident in the building, said he woke up after hearing breaking glass. He then heard Rodriguez screaming and helped put out the fire.

“I had a fire extinguisher and did what I could,” Dominguez said. “It was a frightening way to wake up--breaking glass and screams. It’s usually pretty quiet back here but not last night.”