Family of 12 Left Homeless After Fire at Trailer Park : Pacoima: Their mobile home is gutted in a Christmas Day blaze. Authorities say it appears to have been accidentally set in a vacant unit.

The Santillan family was just sitting down after Christmas dinner to watch television on their new TV, a gift purchased after much saving. That’s when they smelled smoke coming from a mobile home next door.

The flames spread to their unit so fast they barely had time to get out, leaving their possessions, including the television, behind. In less than 20 minutes, their trailer was gutted, leaving 12 family members homeless.

Three other trailers were damaged--two beyond repair--and 24 people were evacuated in the Christmas Day fire at the Starlight Trailer Park on Branford Street near Glenoaks Boulevard in Pacoima, said Bob Collis of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. No one was injured.

The fire began about 6:30 p.m. Friday, in a vacant trailer often used as a hangout by neighborhood boys, Collis said. Residents said they have frequently seen youths smoking cigarettes there, and Collis said the fire appears to have been accidentally started by smokers.

The vacant trailer was gutted along with the Santillans’ rented trailer and another owned by Juan and Maria Gonzalez. A fourth trailer was damaged by the heavy smoke but was not burned and the residents moved back in Saturday. Other residents who were evacuated from nearby trailers have also returned.

The Santillans spent Saturday morning going through the rubble, looking for anything salvageable. They stood around their melted television set and wondered what to do next.

“Now, we have nothing,” said Antonio Santillan, 30, placing his foot on a television set that he had bought for his family for Christmas. “It happened so fast. We didn’t have time to take anything. We saved our children and the clothes we’re wearing.”

Santillan is one of four brothers who lived in the mobile home, which was actually two large trailers joined together. Antonio, his wife Candelaria and their four children occupied one half while Fernando Santillan, his wife Soila and their two children lived in the other. Two other brothers, Luis and Ramon Santillan, also resided there.

As the Santillans hunted for valuables on Saturday, a small child became excited when she discovered a partially burned picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the image of the Virgin Mary revered in Mexican culture. Another child hauled a heavily damaged boom box. But nothing else of use could be found.

The American Red Cross has provided the family with food and clothing and is trying to help them relocate.

“It’s hard to find a place for all 12 of them.” said Kathy Ross, a Red Cross volunteer who interviewed the victims on Saturday.

The Santillans are determined to stay together. “We’re a family,” said Antonio, who lived 13 years in the trailer.

They also want to stay in the same trailer park because three of the brothers can walk to work from there. And they are worried about clothing for the six children, who all attend Montague Street Elementary School.

The dozen members of the Santillan family are temporarily crowded into a vacant trailer, made available by the trailer park manager. But the unit, which sits about 30 feet from gutted trailer, is less than half the size of their former home.

And Juan and Maria Gonzalez, who rented a unit in the park for 10 years, had bought their mobile home for $4,000 just four months ago. The uninsured trailer is damaged beyond repair.

But they were able to save some clothing, and with the help of the Red Cross are staying in a hotel on Sepulveda Boulevard until they can find a permanent home.

Both families, along with many other residents in the trailer park, come from Quitupan, a tiny village near Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

“We’re starting all over again,” said Juan Gonzalez, who works as a forklift operator in Pacoima. “Twenty years ago, I came here with nothing. Today, I feel the same.”