Playing With Cigarette Lighter May Have Sparked Blaze That Killed 3

The three young siblings killed in a fire Tuesday morning in the Pico-Union district touched off the blaze while playing with a cigarette lighter, a Fire Department spokesman said Wednesday.

Fire officials said the combination of unattended children and disposable lighters was a recipe for catastrophe.

But police said that no charges will be filed and that the incident was “entirely accidental.”

“If adults leave any type of matches or lighters and they have some small children around, that is as dangerous as a loaded weapon,” said Capt. Steve Ruda, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. “Put in the hands of small children, that leads to tragedy.”

Ruda said three non-childproof disposable lighters were discovered in the room where Juan Santoyo, 5, Karla Santoyo, 4, and their half brother, Christian Calzada, 2, burned to death.

One lighter was found at the bed’s base, where the fire apparently began, Ruda said. The other two were found in the remains of the bed. The charred bodies of two of the children were found on the bed, the other beside it.

Police investigators said they have determined that the children’s mother, Aracely Calzada, was just outside the house, seeing her husband, Raul Calzada, off to work at the moment someone first noticed smoke.

Sgt. John Pasquariello, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said no charges will be filed against the parents. Ruda concurred that the Fire Department’s arson investigators “are not looking at possible acts by the parents” as crimes.

Ruda said the department’s investigators have concluded that “the bed clothing, the sheets and blankets” were ignited by one of the children, who they believe was playing with a lighter.

In past fires, psychologists have found that even very young children tend to realize that playing with fire is wrong and at first are often too embarrassed or ashamed to call for help, Ruda said.

The Fire Department spokesman speculated that the siblings might have reacted in that manner Tuesday. Witnesses said they did not hear screams until the fire was well underway.

City officials Wednesday said an order was drafted Jan. 25 to the owner of the multiunit home, Corey Angel, to remove illegal modifications at the Alvarado Terrace property. The order, described as being “in the mail now,” ordered the modifications removed by March 11.

Would-be rescuers had reported Monday that there was no direct entrance from outside the house into the front bedroom, where the children were heard screaming for help.

Building officials did not comment on the specifics of the illegal modifications or whether they might have prevented direct entrance to the room.

“They had done some work inside the building without our approval

A neighboring homeowner, Mary Ann Hutchison, said she filed a complaint in June that the building had more units than permitted, and suggested that might have contributed to the tragedy.

Seven months after her initial complaint, city building officials formally alleged the illegal modifications. But they said the certificate of occupancy for the property permits multiple units.

Calls to the owner drew only a response from a man identifying himself as Angel’s brother. He said the building owner “feels traumatized by the incident but has no other comment.”