FIRE LEAVES FAMILY HOMELESS, KILLS CAT.Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer A family cat died and two residents suffered injuries in an pre-dawn house fire Friday that wiped out most of the home's contents and left the family needing emergency shelter Emergency shelters are places for people to live temporarily when they can't live in their previous residence, similar to homeless shelters. The main difference is that an emergency shelter typically specializes in people fleeing a specific type of situation, such as battered , officials said. Resident George Nasser suffered secondary burns after having repeatedly ducked back inside the burning home to make sure the pets were out, and his 21-year-old daughter suffered smoke inhalation Smoke Inhalation Definition Smoke inhalation is breathing in the harmful gases, vapors, and particulate matter contained in smoke. Description Smoke inhalation typically occurs in victims or firefighters caught in structural fires. , said Ventura County Fire Department Not to be confused with Ventura Fire Department. The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, and for six other cities within the county. spokeswoman Sandi Wells. Both were treated at Simi Valley Hospital Simi Valley Hospital (SVH) is a Seventh-day Adventist hospital located located in Simi Valley, California. SVH is a member of Adventist Health. New Construction Simi Valley Hospital is in the process of building a new wing to the hospital. and released. Nasser's wife, Debbie, and the couple's other daughter, who is 16, escaped without injuries - as did two dogs and another cat. ``Apparently the dogs started barking and that woke up the mom,'' Wells said. ``She saw smoke pouring through the vents and smoke filled the room. She woke up the family and everybody got out.'' Firefighters responded to the 4:43 a.m. blaze in the 2000 block of Belmar Court, and could see the smoke and the glow from the fire from more than a mile away, Wells said. It took 35 firefighters a half-hour to contain the flames at the four-bedroom, single-story house that caused $100,000 in damage to the $150,000 structure. Officials estimated that the contents, valued at $50,000, had $45,000 in damages. Fire investigators spent all morning on scene and determined that a malfunction mal·func·tion v. 1. To fail to function. 2. To function improperly. n. 1. Failure to function. 2. Faulty or abnormal functioning. with the microwave in the kitchen caused the fire. Wells said the father went back into the house three times to make sure all the pets were out. ``On the third time he fell and burned his knees and hands and feet,'' she said. ``The one cat who died managed to wiggle out of their arms and went back inside the house,'' Wells said. ``It was an inside kitty and didn't know anything about the outside.'' The heat from the blaze was so intense it lifted the shingles shingles: see herpes zoster. shingles or herpes zoster Acute viral skin and nerve infection. Groups of small blisters appear along certain nerve segments, most often on the back, sometimes after a dull ache at the site; pain becomes , warped the eaves and blew out a window at a next-door neighbor's two-story house 15 feet away, Wells said. The family, who were tenants, received housing assistance from the Red Cross. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1) Stephanie Nasser, 16, clutches a favorite pillow, one of the few items not destroyed by Friday's fire. (2) Fire investigators sort through the debris from a devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. fire believed to have been caused by a microwave malfunction. Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News |
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