Smoke From Blaze in Kitchen Affects 4

Four people, including a police officer, suffered smoke inhalation when fire engulfed the kitchen of a Buena Park house, causing damage estimated at $10,000, authorities said Monday.

Firefighters were summoned to the 7200 block of Santa Clara Street about 8 p.m. Sunday when an unattended pan of boiling water caused a kitchen fire, said Dennis Shell, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. A 16-year-old girl had fallen asleep and accidentally left the burner on, investigators said.

“She woke up to the sound of a fully involved fire--popping, breaking of glass and things falling on the floor,” Shell said. “She grabbed her two dogs and ran outside.”

By the time she made it to the front yard, she was having trouble breathing and was suffering from “the first symptoms of smoke inhalation,” Shell said.

Two neighbors and a police officer who arrived moments later grabbed garden hoses and began fighting the blaze. They also suffered smoke inhalation, but succeeded in “knocking down a major portion of the fire,” Shell said.

“They came out with black-sooted face, and coughing and choking,” Shell said.

Buena Park Officer Jim Banks and the teenager, whose name was not released, were taken to La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, where they were treated and released. The two neighbors, Tommy Echavez and Dennis Abajian, were treated by paramedics at the scene, Shell said.

Twenty-nine firefighters took minutes to control the fire, Shell said.

Investigators determined that there no smoke detectors in the home, Shell said.

“Had there been smoke detectors, there would have been a much earlier warning and we wouldn’t have a fire like this,” Shell said. The girl “is lucky she’s not dead.”