Hanging Lights Proves Deadly

Three people have fallen to their deaths while hanging Christmas lights this month, the latest a 54-year-old man who was found in the patio of his La Habra Heights home, Orange County officials said.

“I don’t recall this much in a season in the 22 years I’ve been here,” said Chief Deputy Coroner Cullen Ellingburgh. “It’s very unusual. Every year, we have maybe one.”

On Sunday, Ronald Seko climbed a ladder to hang decorations above a patio, fell through an aluminum cover and tumbled 10 feet to the ground, said Chuck Flack, a battalion chief for the La Habra Fire Department.

Family members found him unresponsive when they arrived home about 5 p.m. and called paramedics, Flack said.

Seko was transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead Monday afternoon from multiple injuries.

Frederick Hedges, 72, died Dec. 16 after falling off the roof of his Los Alamitos home as he tried to put up lights.

On Dec. 7, Frank Yrisarri, 70, of Anaheim fell off a 6-foot ladder when he reached for his wife, who was below him on the same ladder, lost her footing and fell, police said.

Yrisarri died several days later from head injuries, and his wife suffered a broken leg, police said.

Officials said such accidents are rare and occur when people don’t realize how slippery a rooftop can be or fail to follow instructions for a ladder.

“Some homeowners aren’t experienced in getting on a ladder or the roof,” said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Miller.

“They don’t understand the inherent dangers.”

He said that rooftops are slippery when they are wet or moldy and that ladders have limits on how high they can be extended and how much weight they can hold.

Seko’s distraught neighbors remembered him as being meticulous.

“He’s very careful,” said Stanley Perumean, who had known Seko since he moved into the neighborhood in 1988. “I’m shocked.”