Christmas Tree Blaze Guts Unit in Huntington

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Two city employees helped evacuate an apartment complex after youngsters playing with matches set fire Thursday to the family Christmas tree while they were home alone, fire officials said.

The two children involved managed to escape as flames engulfed a third-floor apartment, gutting the unit and damaging two others nearby.

The only people injured were city water department employees Greg Ketcham and Tony Rizco, who were treated for smoke inhalation after racing to evacuate about 25 residents.

“We ran up to the apartment to make sure no one was in there,” Ketcham said. “By the time we got to the third story, the two kids were running out of the front door and the apartment was fully involved.

“The fire spread very fast. When we first noticed it, it looked like a small softball-sized blaze.”

Ketcham said the only hitch came when one woman, who lives next-door to the burning apartment, was reluctant to leave without her cat.

“The cat was stuck between a water bed and the wall, which was so hot the wallpaper was beginning to bubble,” he said.

Ketcham said the woman finally agreed to leave after he and Rizco freed the cat.

The fire started about 9 a.m. Officials believe a 10-year-old and a teen-age friend were lighting matches in the apartment in the 9800 block of Hamilton Avenue, Huntington Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Martha Werth said.

The matches ignited the Christmas tree in the living room and set the entire apartment ablaze, she said.

Twenty-nine firefighters from Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa converged on the apartment and extinguished the blaze in 20 minutes, officials said.

The damage was estimated at $100,000, and the unit is no longer habitable. There also was smoke damage to two nearby units, Werth said.

American Red Cross volunteers provided the 10-year-old and two adults who live in the apartment with temporary lodging and meals.

Fire officials praised the city workers and pointed out the fire danger that brittle Christmas trees can pose.

“People need to remember Christmas trees are harvested long before they are sold,” Werth said. “By the holiday they are already pretty dry, and a dry tree burns very rapidly.”

A 6-foot tree can be engulfed in flames in 10 seconds, she said.

“And on top of that, tree trimmings and decorations are real flammable as well,” Werth said. “It’s a time bomb. So we need to get people to dispose their trees quickly after Christmas, and remind parents to reinforce to their kids not to play with matches.”

* TREE DISPOSAL

Most cities will offer curbside pickup and recycling for Christmas trees. B3