Bootlegged Wiring Starts House Fire; Girl, 3, Dies : Tragedy: Rescue efforts by neighbors are futile. The Covina blaze is attributed to an illegal hookup used after electricity was shut off.

A 3-year-old girl died Thursday in an explosive Covina house fire that was sparked by an illegal electrical hookup to a garage welding operation, authorities said.

The inferno, reported at 3:48 a.m., drew two neighbors from across the street who--barefoot and clad only in underwear--tried in vain to rescue the child, Aubrey Cowger. They were driven back by thick, oily smoke and a wall of flames.

After the blaze was brought under control in about 20 minutes, Covina police arrested Dennis Marsh, 33, an unemployed welder, who lived at the home in the 100 block of South Forestdale Avenue. He was jailed on suspicion of murder and child endangerment and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

Police said Marsh, whose electricity and gas had been shut off this month for failure to pay his bills, ran wire from nearby power lines into his house through a hole in the wall. The wires were connected to spliced-together extension cords under the living room carpet--which continued into the garage and were attached to his welding equipment, authorities said.

The electrical cords, unable to bear the high voltage drawn by Marsh’s early-morning welding work in the garage, sparked the fire, said Covina Police Lt. Jim Goodman.

The fire ignited propane gas that seeped into the house when the fire melted a rubber hose attached to an outdoor tank. Explosions then rocked the sleeping neighborhood, Goodman said.

“It was a negligent and criminal act to bring in the electricity that led to the fire that led to the death of the child,” Goodman said.

When the blaze began, Marsh was working in the garage, police said. The child was sleeping alone in a bedroom. The child’s mother, Bridget Douglas, 24, had left the house to shop in a 24-hour market.

Marsh ran for help across the street to the home of Bob and Bill Csallo. The two brothers, who did not know that the child was inside, broke down the front door and got halfway down the hallway in an effort to save what belongings they could, but flames and smoke barred their way, Bob Csallo said.

The brothers said they were furiously throwing belongings out of the home when Douglas began screaming, “My baby! My baby!”

The two brothers then ran outside and broke a front window. Bob Csallo went back inside but flames forced him out again.

Fifteen firefighters battled the fire for 20 minutes, but the house was gutted. Damage was estimated at more than $100,000.

Neighbors portrayed Marsh as a hard worker who was down on his luck and desperate to make money to support his companion, Douglas, and her little girl.

Marsh, who was doing welding jobs to make ends meet, had worked as a maintenance mechanic at Carnation Co. for five years, neighbors said. He left that job and held two others before he was laid off because of the recession, they said. He had declared bankruptcy, and the house--owned by his mother, Lee, 71, who lives nearby--was to be auctioned March 30 because mortgage payments were not paid.

When his electricity was shut off this month for non-payment, Marsh operated a small generator to supply limited electricity to his home, but the generator did not produce sufficient power for his welding tools, neighbors said. Three days ago, he hooked into Southern California Edison power lines to get the power he needed, they said.

Despite his financial woes, Marsh was devoted to Douglas’ child and often brought the blonde, blue-eyed, little girl to Lee Marsh’s apartment for dinner, his mother said.

“He couldn’t go anywhere unless the little girl went with him,” Lee Marsh said. “She was so cute. It’s always the innocent ones who have to suffer.”