Corona del Mar house fire injures two

A space heater left on too close to a bed caused a two-alarm house

fire in Corona del Mar early Thursday, leaving one woman hospitalized

and another requiring treatment for first- and second-degree burns,

fire officials said.

Four generations of females were living in the home in the 500

block of Narcissus Avenue when the blaze erupted at 1:40 a.m., fire

officials said.

Another woman, who rents the upstairs of the house, was not home

at the time of fire, officials said.

Firefighters arrived to find two women and a 7-year-old girl

outside the home and quickly learned that one woman was still inside

the burning structure, fire officials said.

Capt. Jeff Boyles was in the third engine on scene and pulled the

owner of the home from her bedroom on the first floor.

The woman, identified by her son as Muriel Englund, 90, remained

hospitalized in the burn unit at Western Medical Center in Anaheim as

of late Thursday.

“There’s about a 50-50 chance that she’ll make it,” said son, Gary

Englund, about his mother’s condition.

Gary Englund said that also living in the home were his sister,

Beverly Englund, her daughter, Laura, and Laura’s 7-year-old

daughter, Alexandria.

Thursday afternoon, hours after the fire had been put out, yellow

caution tape surrounded the tan home, where Muriel Englund has lived

since 1962. The charred contents of a purse were scattered across the

front lawn. A singed wallet, hairbrush and melted sunglasses lay next

to the remains of a black bag.

The shattered framed photograph of a baby, all the edges burned,

sat propped up against a palm tree in the front yard.

When firefighters first arrived, the home was fully engulfed with

visible flames and smoke, firefighters said.

“It had fire blowing out of the window downstairs on both sides

and the front,” Boyles said.

The close distance between homes in the neighborhood put nearby

houses in danger of catching fire.

“Another five minutes, we would have lost a house on both sides,”

Boyles said.

The second story of a neighbor’s home was damaged by the fire’s

heat; the side of the house was blackened with soot and some smoke

got into the house, fire officials said.

Preventing the fire from spreading to surrounding homes is a

priority, following the rescue of anyone who might still be inside,

firefighters said.

Capt. Glenn White, a fire investigator, determined that the fire

started in the back bedroom on the first floor, where Beverly Englund

had been sleeping.

Investigators did not determine that smoke alarms alerted the

residents of the fire. Beverly Englund woke up to flames and heat,

and notified the others in the house, White said.

“She had no clear recollection exactly why she woke up,” White

said.

Beverly Englund was later taken to a hospital with first- and

second-degree burns on her back, White said.

A melted space heater was found in Beverly Englund’s bedroom next

to the edge of the bed covers. When the fire started, Beverly Englund

attempted to put out the fire with blankets, which may have fueled

the fire, White said.

A neighbor helped guide the people out of the home and tried to go

back in to get Muriel Englund, but was driven back by the flames,

White said.

“The whole time she was on the phone to 911, she was kicking and

beating the door, so they could hear it,” White said, of the

neighbor’s heroic actions. The neighbor could not be reached

Thursday.

Thursday’s fire is a reminder that people should call 911

immediately after a fire starts, White said. And space heaters should

never be placed near a bed or left on while sleeping, he added.