Police Alert Sleeping Occupants to House Fire

Police roused four people from sleep and helped them out of a house which had been deliberately set on fire, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators said they suspect arson because the fire was set in several places, and a resident reported seeing a man fleeing in a car shortly after flames erupted. However, investigators know of no motive for the 2 a.m. blaze at the three-bedroom house on the 10000 block of Emerson Avenue.

There were no injuries. Structural damage was put at $10,000, and about $1,000 in contents was lost.

One neighbor reported hearing a loud bang before spotting the fire.

After Garden Grove police officers Paul Prince and Michael Walker evacuated the house, firefighters put out the blaze in about 20 minutes.

One of the residents, Thien Nguyen, 32, said he did not know how the fire started. He said he and his family were sleeping in one of the bedrooms when they heard the police pounding on the door.

Nguyen, who is on welfare and moved to California a few months ago from Ohio, said he shares one of the bedrooms with his wife and their 4-year-old son, paying about $450 a month in rent. He said the owner of the house rents out one of the other rooms, but that the third bedroom is vacant.

He said the house was not severely burned, but that the water heater and back portion of the house was damaged by the fire.

The owner of the house could not be reached for comment.