3 Children Die in House Fire Despite Intense Rescue Effort

Fire erupted in the front bedroom of a crowded Victorian house in the Pico-Union district Tuesday morning and, despite the frenzied efforts of neighbors and firefighters, three small children died.

A fire prevention captain working with CBS movie makers a block away rushed to the scene, and 10 fire companies quickly followed, Fire Department spokesman Steve Ruda said. But the room was enveloped in flames, preventing anyone from reaching the children.

The fire began about 8:30 a.m. at a house in the 1400 block of Alvarado Terrace. Officials identified the dead as Juan and Karla Santoyo, ages 5 and 4, and half-brother Christian Calzada, 2.

The children’s mother, Aracely Calzada; Christian’s father, Raul Calzada; and a grandmother were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and released.

Ruda said the adults were in the back of the house when the fire erupted, possibly set off by a space heater, and were unable to save the children.

“When the firemen arrived, neighbors were using garden hoses and throwing buckets of water in an attempt to extinguish the flames, but they were just too much,” Ruda said.

He said investigators had already discovered that several families were living in the nine-room, two-story house.

Ruda called the neighborhood “one of the most densely populated in the city.”

Building owner Corey Angel could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Building and Safety Department said the only recent citation on record for the building was in August, for an illegally built carport that has since been demolished.

Ruda said the city fire and police departments would investigate the blaze.

Neighbors and an adopted member of the Calzada family described the heart-rending scene of the children losing their lives in the blaze.

Rita Suarez said she heard commotion outside her door and called 911 after the fire began.

“I went out to my balcony because I heard these awful screams,” she said.

Suarez said neighbors and family members were calling out for help, begging anyone to get the children out.

“Never in my life had I witnessed something so horrible,” she said.

Jose Raul, who was in the neighborhood looking for work when he came upon the scene and was asked to help, related how he and several others ran to the back of the house and tried to put out the fire with a neighbor’s garden hose.

“We did everything we could, but it wasn’t enough,” Raul said.

Meanwhile, Francisca Contreras, a relative of the Calzadas, said of the mother, “That young woman is just devastated. We all just can’t believe how terrible this is.”

Ruda said that once the fire department arrived on the scene, it took 25 minutes to fully extinguish the flames, which burned one room and reached the attic but did not destroy the building.