Faulty dryer blamed for apartment
blaze
06:50 AM Mountain Standard Time on
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
NewsChannel 3 and azfamily.com Staff
PHOENIX -- As many as 16 apartments
were evacuated Tuesday night after a faulty clothes dryer sparked
a fire at a west Valley apartment complex.
The fire took place at about 10 p.m.
at the Newport Landing apartment complex near 51st Avenue and
Thunderbird Road.
The fire started when a tenant in an
upstairs apartment was doing laundry and her dryer caught on fire.
The woman called 911 and safely
escaped her home.
Firefighters say the fire posed a
challenge because the apartment was housed in a large, two-story
complex.
The tenants forced out of their
apartments had to leave because the electrical and gas supplies to
the building were shut off.
Several units suffered smoke and
water damage, but no one was hurt in the blaze.
Burned Child Expected to Heal
04/23/2002
By Frank Camacho
Prognosis for a 5-year-old boy badly
burned yesterday in a gas fire in his South Phoenix home is
looking good. The child could be going home in about two weeks.
Carlos Zavaleta suffered second- and
third-degree burns on his face, arms and legs. His parents, who
speak only Spanish, met with reporters to talk about what happened
and to give other parents a warning.
Neither Lionel Barragon nor his wife,
Marcina Zavaleta, speak English, but the concern on their faces
needs no interpreter. Their son, Carlos, is critical but stable at
the Maricopa Count Medical Center Burn Unit.
He was injured yesterday at the
family home when a spark from a clothes dryer ignited a hanging
strand of ribbon, which quickly set the child's clothes on fire.
His father was just a few feet away
at the time.
Barragon said his child was clinging
to him and crying from the pain.
Carlos' shoes and clothes lay near
the toys he was playing with just minutes before the accident.
They are a reminder, said his mother, of what can happen when a
parent loses sight of a child even for a moment. But the young
family will be reunited and chances are good that one day they
will be able to smile again.
Carlos should heal with a minimum of
scarring.
Boy saves family from blaze
They grab pets, flee through smoke
09:51 AM MST on Friday, September 26,
2003
By Eric Swedlund and L. Anne Newell /
Arizona Daily Star
After waking up to an odd crackling
in the middle of the night, 11-year-old Randy Schneider felt his
gut tell him to look out the window, where he saw black smoke and
a frightening orange glow.
He quickly woke his father and two
brothers, who were able to grab their iguana and dog and safely
escape before flames consumed most of the family's East Side home
early Thursday.
"I was thinking I was going to die. I
don't know what happened. I wasn't thinking at all," he said. "My
dad just pushed our heads under the smoke so we could breathe and
we just left."
The fire was reported at 2:28 a.m.
and began in a gas dryer in a back room, said Tucson Fire
Department Capt. Paul McDonough.
Firefighters contained the blaze to
the back, but there was smoke damage throughout the home in the
5600 block of East Calle Silvosa, near East Golf Links and South
Craycroft roads. The blaze caused $60,000 in damage, but there
were no injuries reported, he said.
"He woke them up and got them out. He
should be commended," McDonough said.
"He was a brave little boy. He acted
quickly. He did the right thing and got the most important things
out of the house: The family, including the pet dog and the
iguana."
Randy's dad, Tim Schneider, agreed.
"I definitely would have slept
through it," he said.
"If he didn't wake us up, we wouldn't
have gotten up."
After hearing all day that he's a
hero, Randy said he's just glad his family and pets got out in
time.
"I don't care about fame or anything.
My family's safe, and that's all that matters and our pets," he
said, referring to Oreo the dog and Frankie the iguana.
The Schneiders - Tim, Randy,
13-year-old T.J. and 8-year-old Eric - ran outside as their home
of three years started to burn, then watched flames shoot through
the skylight and smoke fill the air.
"As soon as I got to the kitchen the
crackle was so loud I couldn't believe it," T.J. said. "I was
freaked out. I thought it was a dream or I was hallucinating, it
was so scary. I slapped my face and pinched my arm trying to
think."
T.J. said watching the home burn felt
helpless, "like nothing you could ever imagine."
"It's not the best feeling in the
world. It's something I'll remember for the rest of my life," he
said.
A fifth-grade yearbook, some jewelry
and a collection of toy cars were among the few things spared in
the fire, but the family said the experience pulled them closer
together.
"Our stuff was all toast," Randy
said. "Everything was pitch black. I didn't know fire could do
that much damage."
T.J. said he couldn't believe a fire
could move so fast and that surveying the wreckage was a shock. A
diorama he'd finished just before going to bed sat on top of the
refrigerator, half-burnt.
"Not even 24 hours ago I was in there
playing Nintendo and now I'm looking at what used to be a
computer," he said. "I didn't recognize the house at all. I almost
started crying."
Investigators haven't determined
exactly how the blaze started, but said it has been ruled
accidental.
McDonough said the incident should
serve as a warning to those who buy used appliances, as Schneider
did when his electric dryer broke down about two months ago.
"If you're buying something
secondhand, you don't know its history," McDonough said. "Make
sure it's working right and clean it and connect it right. And if
there's manufacturer's instructions still available, make sure you
follow them."
Firefighters arrived at 2:33 and had
the fire under control at 2:50 a.m.
The Schneiders spent most of the day
with relatives and will stay in a hotel for now. The home is
insured and the family plans to rebuild, but it will take at least
six months.
Copyright 2003 Arizona Daily Star
For more news from southern Arizona,
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www.fox11az.com.
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April 22, 2001-
