Support grows for apartment fire victims

Update 9/2/15:

Supporters of the family at the center of the deadly fire have started a go fund me account to raise money for the family.

The money will go toward helping them pay for housing, clothes, medical bills and funeral costs.

http://www.gofundme.com/en36uvkw

Previous story:

A 20-year-old man died in an apartment fire in which the damage was so severe, the Salinas Fire Department Fire Marshall could only call the cause of the Saturday morning fire inconclusive, the department said Sunday.

This is the first fatal fire of the year in the city, firefighters said.

It happened just before 10 a.m. at an apartment complex on Harvest Street.

“Within just moments, numerous 911 calls were coming in reporting not only smoke, but fire coming out of the apartment,” said interim Deputy Fire Chief Brett Loomis, who added that the fire was upgraded to a 2nd alarm which activated every firefighter in Salinas to respond.

Firefighters said the fire started in the living room but the victim was trapped inside the kitchen of the apartment he shared with his teenage brothers.

Because the victim had a mental disability he couldn’t speak. His two brothers woke up, ran from their bedroom and tried to help but couldn’t get to him. The two survivors jumped out of the second-story window and when they landed one of the teens fractured his leg, firefighters said.

“Tragically, on average, it’s about one civilian fatality per year in the city of Salinas,” Loomis said.

This hit home for a woman who said she knew the victim.

“I feel very heartbroken. It’s something affecting me right now. I have the image of his face going through my mind,” said Matilde Mireles Juarez.

“We have a number of very young firefighters on the job, some of them are still on probation (who graduated from) the academy just a few months ago. We want to make sure they are able to contribute to the organization and stay both mentally and physically healthy,” Loomis said.

All firefighters in Salinas have access to counselors and Loomis said he and other fire captains will be consistently checking in with their crews to make sure they are OK.

Firefighters said they discovered three charred smoke detectors in the burned apartment but they added it’s too difficult to tell if they were functioning. When questioned at the hospital, the two surviving brothers said they couldn’t hear them when they woke up, Loomis said.

Loomis stressed the importance of having functioning smoke detectors because he said the majority of deaths are caused by smoke inhalation not thermal burns.

Sunday, firefighters turned the scene back over to the property owners of the complex.

Even though the cause is inconclusive, firefighters are still waiting on autopsy results to complete their report.