NEWHALL APARTMENT BLAZE LEAVES FAMILY HOMELESS.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

Fire gutted a unit Wednesday in a small Newhall apartment complex, leaving a family homeless. It was the second such fire in two days.

It took firefighters from three area stations less than 15 minutes to extinguish the fire, which started shortly after 10:30 a.m. No one was injured at the nine-unit apartment complex on Chestnut and 14th streets.

Resident Felix Alecio was in a bedroom in the apartment when he smelled smoke, said sheriff's Deputy Ignacio Somoano.

``It was just him and a little child in the house and Alecio came into the living room and saw the fire and grabbed the child and ran out,'' Somoano said. Alecio, who does not speak English, was one of four adults living in the ravaged unit.

``When we got here the blaze was coming out of the front door and windows and we were able to knock it out rather quick,'' said acting Capt. Mark Savage of Los Angeles County Fire Station 73.

Damage to the building was estimated at $100,000, Savage said. Damage to the contents in the apartment was put at $20,000, he said.

Alecio and his family were referred to the American Red Cross for shelter.

On Monday, an early morning blaze left nearly two dozen people homeless as fire and smoke destroyed or damaged six units in an apartment complex in Canyon Country. That fire caused $310,000 in damage and was believed to have been started by a faulty lighting fixture.

Fire officials said they still are investigating what caused Wednesday's fire.