Boy, 14, Is Killed in End-of-Vacation Fire : Accident: The victim and a friend were spending the night in a stored motor home when flames broke out. He would have started at Dana Hills High today.

A fire at a neighborhood storage yard Wednesday killed a 14-year-old boy who, despite previous warnings to stay out, slipped past a caretaker for an apparent end-of-summer sleep-over with two friends.

Coroner’s investigators were awaiting a check of dental records for official identification, but the boy’s mother and school officials named the victim as Samuel Peek, who was to enter Dana Hills High School as a freshman today.

He died when fire broke out about 5 a.m. in a motor home stored on a lot on Via de Oliva with nearly three dozen boats and campers belonging to residents of the private community.

One source said a camping lantern burning inside the motor home was believed to have triggered the blaze, which destroyed the structure and a camper-trailer and damaged a second motor home and camper shell. Property loss was estimated by fire officials at more than $100,000.

Authorities said three boys entered the yard--a nighttime haunt for neighborhood teens--on Tuesday night and then got into the motor home, which police said was not owned by any of their families. One of the youngsters, 13-year-old Jeremy Collins, went home about 1:30 a.m., but Peek and the other boy stayed. The latter, who was not identified by authorities, was uninjured.

The caretaker, Julian Ramos, said Wednesday that on several occasions he had chased the boys out of the locked yard, which is owned by the neighborhood association.

“They’ve been warned and told to stay out, and they still crept in,” said Ramos, who lives next door and oversees the 33-space yard. He said the family of one of the boys stores a small camper-trailer in the yard.

According to Ramos, one youth borrowed a key from a neighbor Tuesday and left the gate unlocked. Ramos said the lock was in place on the gate Wednesday morning but apparently was unlatched when he saw it on his way to another job just 15 minutes before the fire.

Samuel was described as a Civil War buff who was trying out for the football team as a wide receiver. Jeremy was on the team and went with Samuel to baseball-card shops.

“These guys did everything together,” said Jeremy’s father, Russell Collins. “These are great kids. Samuel loved things like the Civil War. He must have watched ‘Gettysburg’ about 10 times.”

Collins said his son had asked to spend the night at a friend’s house, but came home hours later, saying he could not sleep.

“They weren’t where they were supposed to be,” Collins said.

Debbie Collins, the boy’s mother, said the youths apparently had gone to the storage yard to camp out.

Residents of the well-tended community were awakened just before 5 a.m. by an explosion and then the hiss of gas.

“I ran outside, and it was already engulfed in flames, and I heard a kid yelling for his buddy, yelling ‘Samuel, Samuel!’ ” said Julian Ramos Jr. “That fire was burning real hot. You could hear propane seeping out.”

Samuel’s mother, Lois Peek, arrived at the scene five hours later, clutching a framed photograph of her son.

“He was staying there with a friend, and I don’t know what happened,” she said, declining to comment further.

Jeremy Collins, who turns 14 today was in shock over the incident, his parents said. Having forbidden him from hanging out in the storage yard, they said the boy may have left early because he knew it was against the rules.

Said Russell Collins: “This was a real hard way to learn a lesson.” Dana Hills officials said extra counselors would be on hand to talk with students today--the school’s opening day and first game of the freshman football team on which Peek played.

“It’s going to be real hard on the kids,” said Principal Rickie Lundgren. “He’s really going to be missed.”