Neighbors help catch children trapped by fire at Fort Bragg apartment

Fire trapped a Mendocino Coast family in their apartment building Saturday morning, forcing a mother to drop her young children out a second-?story window to a pair of neighbors waiting to catch them, Fort Bragg police said.

The children - 1, 3 and ?4 years old - and the mother were not injured as they leapt to safety, but they were hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation suffered inside the apartment, Sgt. Jon McLaughlin said.

Gabriela Ahumada, 36, and her children were startled awake about 8:30 a.m. by flames in the apartment living room, and the fire blocked their escape through the front door of the second-story unit on South Sanderson Way, McLaughlin said.

Ahumada brought her children into a bedroom farthest from the flames and they began yelling out a window for help.

Downstairs, neighbor Kevin Lutz, 31, had smelled smoke and was evacuating his wife and ?children out of their unit when he heard Ahumada and her ?children calling out, according to McLaughlin.

“He grabbed a mattress from his kid’s bedroom and threw it out the back window,” McLaughlin said.

He positioned the mattress - and himself - to catch the children.

Another neighbor Ernesto Calzadilla, 26, joined Lutz and together they caught the children and softened the landing for their mother.

Flames and heavy smoke were rolling out of windows and doors when firefighters arrived, and all occupants were out of the structure, Fort Bragg Assistant Chief Russ Merritt said. A column of black smoke drifted into the sky. The fire spread to a second unit, and firefighters had the blaze under control within about one hour.

Ahumada had third-to-second-degree burns to her face and arms, and her son, almost 1 year-old, had second-?to-third-degree burns on one of his arms, according to police. They and her two daughters suffered from smoke inhalation, and all taken to Mendocino Coast District Hospital, which is just about a mile from the apartment, McLaughlin said.

Dispatchers requested a medical helicopter to help transport the family but the foggy weather prevented air support, according to Cal Fire.

The mother and infant are expected to be transferred to specialized burn units, McLaughlin said.

Merritt said two apartment units were severely damaged and two units on the first floor were uninhabitable until a structural analysis is done to determine whether the building is safe. Merritt said the fire’s cause wasn’t immediately known and was under investigation.

McLaughlin said the fire appeared to have started in the living room.

All told, 13 people were displaced by the fire, including three families and a unit with roommates, McLaughlin said. Police contacted the Red Cross to assist them.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com.