LANCASTER CHURCH AIDS FAMILY AFTER FATAL BLAZE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Fellow church members, neighbors and other people in the community have offered support and comfort to a Lancaster family whose mobile home was destroyed by a fire that killed their 9-year-old son.

Members of the Fimbres family's church opened their home to the congregants to stay while they look for a new home, and church members are helping to raise money to pay for funeral expenses for Luis Jaime Fimbres.

``They are a really neat family and it's been a real opportunity to share their pain and grief,'' said Joe Dunn, bishop of the Tierra Bonita Ward of the East Lancaster Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with whom Paula Fimbres and the surviving children are saving.

The boy, who had Down syndrome, died Monday as a result of a fire authorities said he started while playing with a butane lighter in his bedroom. After starting the fire, the boy locked himself inside.

The boy is survived by his mother and father, a 5-year-old brother, who remains hospitalized for smoke inhalation, two sisters, ages 16 and 4, and an 18-year-old brother.

The father, Luis Fimbres, was hospitalized overnight for cuts and smoke inhalation suffered while trying to rescue his son. He was released Tuesday.

Church members and others have donated clothing, stuffed animals and toys for the family.

``All their things like electronic equipment was either destroyed by fire or water damage,'' Dunn said. ``The things they saved all fit in a single trash bag - a few clothes, a few pictures and some personal identification.''

Meanwhile, neighbors at the city-owned Desert Sands Estates mobile home park have gone through the gutted mobile home to find things that are salvageable and cleaned them up, Dunn said.

Dunn's wife, Lee Ann, said girls from the church bought a 30-inch teddy bear for the teen-age daughter.

``It's big and round, huggable and soft, and it's comforting to her,'' said Lee Ann Dunn.

Church members also said the city of Lancaster has pledged help in finding the Fimbres a place to live in another city-operated mobile-home park.

People wanting to donate money toward the funeral expenses can send checks made out to the Fimbres family, care of the Tierra Bonita Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 9733 E. Ave. G-10, Lancaster, CA 93535. People who want to donate clothing or other items can call Missi Poole at [phone]. Poole said clothes are desperately needed for the 16-year-old girl.