Car Fire That Killed Baby Sparked by Sibling : Tragedy: Young child was playing with lighter in back seat, Anaheim investigators say. Victim Cassandra Romero’s first birthday was just weeks away.

A car fire that took the life of an 11-month-old baby was started in the back seat by one of her siblings who was playing with a lighter, Anaheim fire authorities said Saturday.

Cassandra Romero, strapped in a car seat, burned to death Friday night after the car suddenly burst into flames.

“This is an unfortunate case, but it emphasizes the importance of keeping lighters and matches out of the reach of small children,” said Ray McGlaughlin, an Anaheim Fire Department investigator.

Cassandra and her two older siblings, ages 3 and 5, were in the back seat of the family car, parked in the rear parking lot of Woodhaven Apartments at 1240 N. State College Blvd.

Family friend Gloria Cordero was in the front seat of the car and had been left with the children while Christina Romero, the children’s 27-year-old mother, and her brother-in-law, Danny Romero, went inside the apartment complex to fill out a rental application.

Cordero, 35, said she suddenly noticed smoke coming up from beneath the driver’s seat. She frantically pulled the older children to safety but was unable to remove the sleeping Cassandra from the car seat through the thick black smoke. Witnesses said it was only four to five minutes before the car was fully engulfed in flames.

“I tried, but I couldn’t get to the baby,” said Cordero, who is Danny Romero’s girlfriend. “The smoke and the fire were so heavy. The fire came from under the front seat so fast. My first thought was that I had to get the kids out. I started yelling for help. Then the car just exploded.”

Anaheim fire investigators spent about three hours Saturday morning inspecting the remains of the car, a 1969 Buick Riviera that McGlaughlin said was “completely destroyed.”

“You handle a lot of fires in your career, but I have to say that this has to be one of the most tragic,” he said.

McGlaughlin said investigators were able to quickly rule out the possibilities that the fire was the result of an electrical problem or that it was started by a smoldering cigarette.

“In that time frame, a cigarette would not have been able to cause that kind of damage,” he said.

Christina Romero said she had been gone from the car for “about three minutes” when she heard apartment residents yelling that there was a fire.

“I ran out and someone said, ‘It’s your car.’ All I saw was black smoke,” she said.

Apartment residents--some carrying fire extinguishers--ran to the burning car and tried to assist Cordero in her efforts to get the baby out.

The mother said she was relieved when her two older children ran up to her but was devastated to learn that her youngest had perished in the blaze.

Cordero said she was unable to release the safety belt on the baby’s car seat despite several attempts. Christina Romero said she had also had difficulty unfastening it on occasion.

On Saturday, the grieving family gathered at the Fullerton apartment from which they had planned to move at the end of the month.

“It hurts,” Danny Romero said, choking back tears. “I wish it could have been me.”

The baby was just weeks from celebrating her first birthday, and Christina Romero had spent part of Friday planning a party. On Saturday, she instead found herself working out the details of her daughter’s funeral.

“She made everybody happy,” Christina Romero said, as she clutched Cassandra’s favorite stuffed elephant. “Every place I went, people would tell me how cute she was.”