Outpouring of Aid Softens Family’s Grief

It was good to hear the laughter, good to see the nieces and nephews and grandkids romping around with brand-new gifts on Christmas Eve. It was a flash of joy in a grief-draped week. And Sabrina Burnett, who lost five of her 12 children in a fire last week, pronounced it a blessing.

“It’s wonderful to see how many people around the world have opened up their hearts to us,” she said.

Cards, flowers, donations, food and countless prayers have buoyed Burnett’s older children and grandchildren since fire trapped her six youngest children inside a converted garage in Watts on Thursday. A grateful 41-year-old Burnett--who suffered burns as she escaped from the blaze with the children’s father and an infant--called a news conference Tuesday to thank everyone for taking her tragedy to heart.

No sooner had she said her piece than community leaders gave her another reason to be grateful: They threw a surprise Christmas party for her extended family.

Glad as she was, Burnett couldn’t stay at the party for long. She sat in a quiet corner in her wheelchair, thinking about the Christmas she had planned for her children, remembering the toys she had picked out for her babies. Toys that reflected each child’s personality.

There were, for instance, the three dolls for her three girls. Nine-year-old Danielle loved to take care of babies, so Burnett had found her a doll she could nurse and diaper. Alexis, the second-grader, was pretty and she knew it (“a little stuck on herself,” Burnett said with a smile), so she was getting a fashion doll she could dress up in fancy clothes. For the youngest, Alexandria, Burnett had found a doll that could do handstands. She figured it was perfect for her bouncy 6-year-old.

The boys, too, had special gifts awaiting them this Christmas. For Bubba, the baby just shy of his second birthday, Burnett had picked out a bike. And her toddler son, Alan Jr., would have gotten the model train he longed for. He was so in love with trains, he made her ride the Blue Line over and over just so he could enjoy the feel of it. “He was so looking forward to Christmas, to getting that train,” she said wistfully.

Though she plans to give away most of the presents she had bought before the fire, Burnett said she would not be able to part with the dolls or the train.

Her children perished inside the converted garage next to their grandparents’ home in a predawn fire, unable to escape through a single door. Family members suspect that the blaze was caused by an electric space heater; city fire officials have yet to determine a cause.

Burnett recounted during her tearful news conference how Danielle, Alexis, Alexandria, Alan Jr. and Bubba died on what was supposed to be a special night--a chance for the whole family to be together.

Normally, Burnett lived in another part of Watts with the three girls and her youngest daughter, an infant she called Kitty. The boys lived in the converted garage with their father, Alan Curtis. Once or twice a week, Burnett and the girls would sleep over in the garage. “We wanted them to know they had a family, with a mother and a father,” Burnett said. “We were trying to raise them responsibly.”

Burnett said the fire ripped quickly through the garage, and she woke up to find the cramped room already “engulfed in flames.” Blistered with second-degree burns on her arms, legs and abdomen, she raced from the garage. Curtis grabbed the baby and fled, suffering severe burns; he was listed in critical but stable condition Tuesday in County-USC Medical Center’s burn unit. Curtis had to be restrained by family members from reentering the burning garage. The other children never made it out.

Her arms and legs wrapped in gauze and her forehead raw, Burnett said she drew a lesson from the tragedy: “Never take your family for granted.”

Wiping away her tears with her baby’s blanket, she added: “Spend as much quality time with your children as you can. Try to live life to the fullest, because you never know what will happen tomorrow.”

Burnett’s oldest son and three of her daughters stood by her side at Tuesday’s news conference, then watched with delight as their children--Burnett’s grandchildren--picked up teddy bears and miniature radios at the surprise party in a back room of the Greater New Morning Star Baptist Church in South Los Angeles.

“When [the fire] happened, it just froze everything,” said Maurice Burnett, 24. “We had no time to concentrate on gifts or Christmas. This is a relief, because we can finally see a smile on the children’s faces. It’s been all straight faces or numb faces since the fire, and that’s not healthy.”

Warming numb faces was what community leader Alice Harris had hoped for when she organized the surprise party through her Parents of Watts organization, doling out Lion King figurines and Sparkle Beach Barbie, Flintstones videos and Scrabble Junior board games. She even rounded up Santa Claus.

Harris, known widely as “Sweet Alice,” still remembers the sting of a long-passed Christmas when her father died and her mother had no time to get her presents. She vowed that no child in the Burnett or Curtis family would do without this year.

“We’re going to give them a Christmas,” Harris said, “because their parents can’t think about it.”

Donations to the family can be sent to: Curtis Family Trust, c/o World Savings Bank, 3326 Imperial Highway, Lynwood, CA, 91262.