Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Baby Living in Car After Quake Dies

A 13-month-old boy died of a severe fever after living in a car outside the family home because of fears of another major earthquake, authorities said Thursday.

However, the death may have been caused by meningitis, not by his living conditions, authorities indicated.

“I don’t believe that living in the car caused this baby’s death,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Pam Schrick. Sheriff’s deputies and a coroner’s investigator, who asked not to be identified, said the first indications were the child died of meningitis.

Jose Campa, whose temperature soared to 107 degrees before he died early Wednesday morning, was living with relatives outside the family home in the 2400 block of Race Street in Newhall, said Lt. Bill Dunn, of the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s station.

Many residents in the predominantly Latino neighborhood where Campa lived have been camping outside and living in cars, fearful of another earthquake.

On Wednesday morning, relatives became alarmed because the child had a burning fever and the boy’s grandfather tried to administer CPR to the child, authorities said. Paramedics took the child to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:29 a.m., according to a coroner’s report.