Feb 4, 2008 12:37 pm US/Pacific
2 Adults, 2 Children Dead In Napa House Fire
NAPA (BCN) ―
The Napa Fire Department has identified the four victims of a fire early Monday morning at a home on Vale Avenue in east Napa.
Fire Capt. Jim Pope said Aurora Castanon, 58, her boyfriend Eutimio Torres, 37 and Castanon's grandchildren, Giovanni Mendez, 4, and Matthew Castanon, 12, died in the blaze. Matthew Castanon died at the Queen of the Valley Medical Center, Pope said.
Pope said all four were found in a bedroom of the home and the fire started in a front living room. Investigators are still trying to determine a cause and whether a smoke alarm in the home was functioning.
Napa fire dispatch received reports of the fire in the 1400 block of Vale Avenue at 4:51 a.m. and arrived on scene at 4:57 a.m., Pope said.
About 25 firefighters knocked down the two-alarm blaze within minutes, and after a simultaneous search, found the four victims in a bedroom. The fire appears to have ignited in the small home's living room, Pope said.
"Four victims is very unusual," Pope said. A fire killed three people in Napa in 2002, but Pope said, "We don't see a lot of multiple fatal fire victim fires."
Fire investigators will comb through evidence to search for a cause of the fire.
Pope said it's tragic incidents like this that highlight the importance of having several functioning smoke alarms in every home.
"You need more than one in your home to make your home safe," he said.
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