1 child dead, mother suffers third-degree burns in Vallejo house fire

Byby Leslie Brinkley KGO logo
Monday, May 23, 2016
Child dies after fire breaks out at Vallejo home
Officials are investigating after a house fire killed a young boy, and injured his mom with second and third-degree burns in Vallejo Sunday morning.

VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) -- A child died and two people were hospitalized after a two-alarm fire burned a Vallejo home Sunday morning.

The fire was first reported at 9:53 a.m. at 827 Stella St., according to Vallejo fire officials.

While en route, firefighters received reports of heavy smoke and possibly one person trapped inside the home, fire officials said.

Upon arrival, firefighters learned neighbors had attempted to rescue the victim trapped inside the home, but were unsuccessful.

"She ran out and said 'someone help me, help me, my baby, my baby,' she was crying. She was all burnt all over here," witness Dorothy Ames said.

"She said she was on fire. She wasn't on fire, but her skin, she was burned pretty good," neighbor Jeffrey Ames said.

Jeffrey doused her with water and crawled into the house with a hose to try to rescue the little boy. "I hosed her off real good to cool her off and I asked her where the baby was and started to go in and I could only get halfway through the living room," he said.

"Windows started popping out, fire hitting me and I tried to keep the back of my head from catching on fire because I didn't want to see him die," Dorothy said.

"The fire department was met by many neighbors trying to assist in getting the one victim out," Vallejo Fire Department spokesperson Mark Libby said.

The little boy did not make it out alive. A teenage boy survived with minor burns. The mother was rushed to the hospital with second and third-degree burns.

A joint fire and police investigation is underway to determine if the fire was intentionally set.

Bay City News contributed to this story.