Man, Woman Critically Hurt in Motel Arson Fire

A man and woman suffered critical burns and smoke inhalation in an arson-caused fire at a motel here Monday morning despite barricading themselves in a bathroom for protection from the flames.

Officials were seeking suspects in the fire.

Joe Primero, 38, a janitor at the Pioneer Motel, and his girlfriend, Doreen Salgado, 25, were listed in critical condition at the UCI Medical Center in Orange Monday after the 4:50 a.m. blaze, Fire Chief Herb Jewell said. They both suffered second- and third-degree burns over 15% of their bodies.

The fire apparently was set with flammable liquid on the balcony walkway in front of their room, Jewell said. The motel is at 7851 Beach Blvd.

No motive for the fire was known, Jewell said.

The blaze not only blocked the door for Primero and Salgado, it also hindered escape for occupants of the adjacent room, where a family of three had to jump from their second-floor window.

Patricia Patrick’s front teeth were broken in the leap. Patrick, 46, was treated at the scene and later went to her job as a cashier at Knott’s Berry Farm, said her husband Ray Patrick.

“I didn’t have time to be scared,” said Ray Patrick, 45, who also jumped onto a flowering bush that broke his fall. “I was just trying to get my family to safety.”

He and his stepson, David Thode, 20, suffered scratches and cuts on their arms.

Primero’s and the Patricks’ rooms did not have smoke detectors, which is a violation of fire codes, Fire Marshall Don Tully said. But he added that there was more fire than smoke. Even if the smoke had been detected early, the flames were too intense for anyone to try to leave through the doors, he said.

“I really think that this is one of those times the smoke detector wouldn’t have been a big deal,” Tully said.

Fire officials ordered the motel owner, Yuan Jeng Lee, to make sure that all 265 rooms at the Pioneer had working smoke detectors by 3 p.m. Workers were checking the rooms Monday morning.

Some units did not have detectors and several detectors had dead batteries, said Carl Barnett, an employee of Har-Bro Inc., a Long Beach general contractor that was in charge of maintenance at Pioneer.

The Pioneer passed an inspection for smoke detectors in May, Tully said, but “inspections are a tough thing to do because we don’t have the right of entry to residential motels.”

Inspectors can only look at vacant rooms and ask motel employees if the rest had operable smoke detectors, he said.

A misdemeanor charge for the fire code violation would be filed only if the motel did not comply with the order by 3 p.m., Tully said.

Lee could not be reached for comment and motel manager Anthony Lee declined to be interviewed.

Mary Taylor’s room was one that received a new smoke detector Monday. The old one had been broken for months, she said.

“There’s really not a lot you can say about it,” Taylor said with a shrug.

Three other rooms on the second floor had minor damages but were unoccupied at the time of the fire, Jewell said. Damage was estimated at $45,000.