Woman Mourned After Rapid Blaze

Zelina Rendon was born developmentally disabled, and even at age 43 she observed the world through the eyes of a 7-year-old.

Over the years, relatives said, her parents tried to protect her as best they could, tried to keep the family nest comfortable in a quiet La Palma subdivision of neat two-story houses. Her mother never took a job and stayed home while her father worked, in part, to buy the things that brought Rendon joy: video games, a guitar, an occasional trip to Laughlin to play the nickel slots.

But the parents couldn’t save Rendon from a fast-moving blaze early Saturday in a house that fire officials said had no working smoke detectors. Fire investigators said an electrical malfunction probably started the fire, which began about 3 a.m. in the downstairs den directly below Rendon’s bedroom.

Her parents, Manuel and Alice Rendon, survived, as did another relative, an unidentified elderly woman. Rendon’s cats, Onyx and Shadow, also died in the fire.

On Sunday, the family grieved at the home of another daughter in Corona, where Rendon’s niece and “movie buddy,” Nicky Inge, took comfort in knowing that her aunt died of smoke inhalation apparently without waking up.

“She was an angel: so pure and the nicest person ever,” said Inge, 20, a Cypress College student who frequently stayed at the La Palma house. “Her smile just touched everybody’s heart.”

Rendon, known as “Aunt Z” to her nieces, had an infectious enthusiasm for life, Inge said. The day before Rendon died, she told Inge she was excited about the new “Lord of the Rings” movie coming out in December.

“That was the very last thing she said to me,” Inge said. “This whole situation is so devastating. It’s a nightmare we’re going to have to wake up to every day.”

Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Miller said the two-alarm fire did $400,000 in damage to the house, which was nestled in a tidy cul-de-sac. The Rendons retrieved about five boxes of belongings, including books and a crystal vase.

From the outside, the home appeared lightly charred Sunday and pieces of the metal roof were piled on the front lawn. Red signs reading “Uninhabitable” were attached to the boarded-up windows and garage. The smell of smoke lingered.

As the fire burned, neighbors said, Manuel Rendon knelt by the front door screaming for his daughter. Alice Rendon, who crawled out of the house because arthritis has swollen her legs too much for her to walk, sat on the curb sobbing in neighbor Eileen Opdahl’s arms.

“They were so dedicated to her,” said Opdahl, 39. “She was their life. All her mother could do was ask how they would go on without her.”

Neighbor Tony Martinez, 18, said he and an uncle stormed in and pulled the unidentified relative down the stairs and outside. His cousin tried to rescue Rendon, but flames exploded through the windows.

“It was too late,” said the cousin, Ruben Martinez Jr., 19, staring grimly at his hands Sunday morning. “There was nothing we could do.”