2 Teens Held in Fire Probe : Girls Suspected of Firing Rocket Onto Apartment Roof; Residents Sift Ruins

Two 16-year-old girls are suspected of recklessly starting a fire with a bottle rocket, causing more than $1 million in damages to an apartment complex and leaving about 100 people without homes, fire investigators said Monday.

The teenagers were taken into custody late Sunday on felony charges and were being held at Juvenile Hall in Orange.

Both girls live in the sprawling brick apartment complex, and fire officials said they had been seen lighting fireworks in the parking lot and pool area Sunday afternoon.

Investigators suspect the fire was sparked by a large bottle rocket--called a skyrocket--that landed on a cedar shake roof covered with dried pine needles. Such fireworks are banned in California.

“One of the things about the bottle rockets is that once you launch it, once it leaves your hand, you have absolutely no idea where it will finally settle,” Garden Grove Fire Capt. Bill Dumas said. “You can’t control where it’s going to go.”

Dumas said the teenagers attend a local continuation school and that both had prior brushes with police. He declined to elaborate.

The fire damaged 37 units at City Plaza Apartments in the 12000 block of Lewis Street. Fifteen of those apartments were completely gutted.

On Monday, residents returned to the complex hoping to salvage prized belongings.

Linda Wallace, 47, was frantically trying to get inside her apartment to see if photos of her 9-year-old daughter, Autumn, had gone up in flames. Autumn was murdered six years ago.

“I had gotten them framed. . . . They’re about the only things I have left of her,” Wallace said. “They can’t be replaced.”

Gaylene Show, 58, stood across the street from her apartment, wondering about the fate of family heirlooms that include collector dishes, an antique cider churn and dolls that she had loved as a child.

She said that while fire insurance will at least cover her furniture and other basics, many of the items are priceless.

“I have always bought [fire insurance],” Show said. “Every year that I have had to write out that check, I have thought about not doing it again next year.

“Boy, am I glad I did it this year.”

Many of the residents were angry Monday when they learned that two teen neighbors may be responsible.

“They should’ve known better,” said Jamie Bjorklund, 18, who had moved into her first apartment six months ago. “It really makes me angry to know all of my things are gone out of stupidity.”

“Some of the responsibility for this has to fall on the parents,” said Mauricio Boror, who has lived at the complex since 1979. “It’s their job to supervise their children--they should have known what they were up to.”

Dumas said that in cases where children recklessly start a fire, parents can be held liable for damages and the cost of suppressing the blaze. Sunday’s fire cost tens of thousands of dollars to control, firefighters said.

Witnesses told investigators they saw two girls, whose names were not released because of their ages, lighting fireworks in a parking lot across from the complex about 1 p.m. Sunday. At some point, they took the fireworks to the pool area, Dumas said.

The teens later headed back to the parking lot to set off more bottle rockets about 3 p.m., apparently after being kicked out of the pool area, investigators said. One resident had warned the teenagers about the fire danger of bottle rockets, and within minutes, flames were shooting from the roof of a building, Dumas and residents said.

When firefighters arrived about 3:30 p.m., flames were leaping through the attic of one building and spreading to two others nearby. The fire raced through the units, causing an estimated $1.25 million worth of damage before 75 firefighters contained the flames an hour later.

One firefighter suffered a minor knee injury and was treated at Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center, Dumas said.

Many residents said they escaped possible injuries when passersby saw smoke and pounded on their doors, yelling “Fire! Fire!” One woman threw a shower rod through an open window in hopes of getting the attention of her neighbors. Another resident scaled the ledges of the balconies to the second floor to help rescue people.

Gordon Jones, a repairman who was estimating damage for the complex’s owners, said Monday that the age of the wooden roofing might have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

“I’ve had residents tell me that the roof leaks when it rains. It is very old,” Jones said. “It was kind of a maintenance problem.”

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A supervisor for Bristol Brokerage Co., which manages the complex, declined to comment, saying he was too busy.

The American Red Cross found shelter for 17 families while many other residents stayed with friends and relatives.

On Monday, Red Cross volunteers set up an emergency relief center at the apartment’s recreation room, where families gathered to talk of their losses over hamburgers, corn nuts and coffee.

By about 4 p.m., residents in 13 of the 37 charred units were allowed to search through the rubble.

Edwin Diaz, 35, said he lost his “whole life.”

“Everything I had worked for is gone,” Diaz said.

The Borors, Mauricio and Herminia, were unable to get inside their apartment because of extensive damage. They stood on the sidewalk nearby, wondering what happened to the red, white and blue souvenir flags they received last September when they became naturalized Americans.

“We just became citizens,” said Mauricio Boror, 46. “To most people, [the flags] would mean nothing, but to us they mean a lot.”