Fire at 2 Houses Leaves 12 Homeless

An early morning fire, which may have been started by children playing with matches, did extensive damage to two homes Sunday and left more than 12 people homeless.

No one was injured in the blaze that erupted at 8:22 a.m. and took 45 firefighters, including a unit from Fountain Valley, about an hour to extinguish.

“We had some problems getting to the blaze because there was a lot of traffic from people wanting to get a look at the fire,” said Larry Garcia of the Santa Ana Fire Department.

Janet Oeur, who lives across the street from the burned homes in the 3300 block of Charlaine Avenue, said she awoke to smoke and noise and saw one of the fire’s victims trying to combat the flames.

“She tried to help her house but (the fire) was too big,” Oeur said. “She was able to get her car out of the garage.”

Garcia said one of the single-story homes “was gutted,” while the other sustained more than $120,000 in damage.

“They were lucky there were no injuries,” Garcia said. “Some of the residents had to escape through a living-room window.”

Investigators believe that the fire was caused by children playing with matches in a garage, Garcia said.