5 Victims, Including 7-Year-Old Boy, Burned in Separate Blazes

Two New Year’s Eve fires--one of which authorities said might have been intentionally set--seriously injured five people, including a 7-year-old boy, who was burned over 65% of his body.

The child, Patrick Crawford, was among three people who were critically burned in the fire that broke out around 8:15 a.m. Thursday in the ground floor of a residence in the 29000 block of Val Verde Road in the Santa Clarita Valley community of Val Verde.

Patrick was airlifted from Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital to the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital, where he was listed in extremely critical condition, spokesman Larry Weinberg said.

The boy, whose body was covered by third-degree burns, also suffered smoke inhalation and was breathing with the aid of a respirator, he added.

“It is a monstrous burn complicated by significant smoke inhalation,” Weinberg said. “It is a life-threatening injury and we are watching him hour by hour.”

The boy’s 17-year-old half-brother, Sean Williams, suffered second- and third-degree burns to 43% of his body, including his face, neck, torso and legs, Weinberg said.

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A third burn victim, Patricia Lynn Martin, 20, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in critical condition. Dawn Carter, 45, fractured her legs and an ankle while jumping from a second-story window at the residence, sheriff’s officials said. Authorities said they did not know whether Martin and Carter are related to one another or to the two boys.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Cruz Solis said the fire, which caused at least $200,000 damage, was still under investigation by arson-explosives detectives. Officials believe “the cause of the fire was suspicious and apparently not accidental,” he said.

Sheriff’s officials said they received a 911 call from a neighbor of the fire victims.

Firefighters found the four-bedroom home fully engulfed in flames, Solis said. Family members were burned as they tried to escape.

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Several hours later, a fire sparked by defective Christmas tree lights seriously burned a 40-year-old man in Chatsworth, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis said.

The blaze began about 11:50 a.m. in a two-story condominium in the 10000 block of De Soto Avenue, Collis said. Thirty firefighters extinguished the fire in about 13 minutes.

The injured man, Patrick Odwyer, was rushed by ambulance to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition with first- and second-degree burns, Collis said. Damage to the condo was set at $15,000.