‘It Was My Castle’ : Fire Destroys Home Where 80-Year-Old Raised 14 Children; Her Memories Survived

It was the glue that held them together for 55 years, from the first crib to the last child’s exit into the world, and after that.

The little wood-frame home where Angela Ortiz Corral had raised 14 children and where she still lived was destroyed by fire Tuesday as the 80-year-old widow watched in tears.

“It was my castle,” she said.

About 8:30 a.m., Corral said, she heard “crackling noises” and got out of bed to find that her bedroom was thick with smoke.

“I couldn’t see the floor or the windows,” she said. “I had to feel my way out of the house.”

She ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911. Firefighters arrived to find the 600-square-foot house in the 1000 block of La Casa Avenue engulfed in fire and smoke.

An electrical short-circuit near the refrigerator sparked the fire, Investigator Andy Grzywa said. There were no smoke detectors.

“The house was not up to par with the codes in existence today,” Grzywa said, “and that helped spread the fire more quickly than usual.”

The house had been the oldest on the block, built in 1940 by Menesio Corral, who made dishes at a nearby factory. At first, it had three rooms: a bedroom, a kitchen and an outhouse, Corral said. When the family began to grow, two more rooms were added along with several bunk beds and a crib.

As Corral sat in an empty lot next to the charred remains of her house Tuesday, she said she is reminded of the times when it was filled with her children taking turns doing dishes, washing floors and helping her cook dinner. After supper, her children played in the orange groves surrounding the house.

“I was happy in that house,” Corral said. “I never had to worry about crime. Truly, I never worried about anything at all.”

Delores Reynoso, 52, the seventh child, now lives four blocks away with two teen-age children. She said she will miss coming back to the home of her childhood and being reminded of simpler times.

“I remember the flowers and the orange groves,” Reynoso said. “And my mother was the boss of it all, and she’s still the boss. She and that house kept us all together when things fell apart.”

As she sorted through the rubble, Corral found small statues of a Nativity scene and her Bible.

“When I found it, it was almost like a sign from God that everything will be OK,” she said.

Corral’s 4-year-old Chihuahua, Candy, was rescued by firefighters and given oxygen, but Koni, a rabbit, died in the blaze. Other rabbits, chickens and turkeys survived.

The outhouse, still working, remained standing.

Corral’s children all have settled in Southern California, many just a few blocks away. During family reunions, Corral said, the family has cookouts a few blocks away at a La Habra park because the house was too small to entertain her children, 50 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren.

But this Sunday, Corral said a Mother’s Day picnic will be on the lot next to the house so that “everyone can have the last look.”