Children Saved From Blaze in Their Home

A woman was credited with saving two children Monday from a fire started by her 6-year-old playing with a barbecue lighter.

Elvia Garcia, 38, was nursing her 2-week-old infant at her home in the 600 block of North Jenkins Street about 1:30 p.m. Monday when she saw smoke filling the house, Firefighter Dave Viar said.

Viar said Garcia believed her 6-year-old son was inside napping at the time, but later investigation revealed that he had been playing outside with a butane barbecue lighter and paper, next to a vent leading to the garage.

“He was right near the vent. Some ashes got in there,” Viar said. The garage “was full of stuff, and the fire just took off.”

The garage was filled with mattresses and may have been used as a sleeping quarters, Viar said. It is attached to the three-bedroom home’s kitchen and dining room.

Viar praised Garcia for acting quickly in evacuating with the children. She handed them across the backyard fence to neighbors as the house began to burn, he said.

“She did a good job,” he said. “She thought wisely and got her kids out of there. There ended up being a lot of heat damage and smoke damage throughout the house. We could have had a real problem.”

Three families live at the home and were displaced by the blaze, according to fire officials and a spokeswoman for the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross.

The blaze caused $100,000 in damage, and killed a parakeet and three other small, caged birds, Viar said. Some doves caged on the back patio survived, he said.

It took 22 firefighters about 10 minutes to control the blaze, he said.