UPDATE: 2 women, 1 girl killed in house fire
12/09/2006
James Muñoz
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
Three people died in an early morning house fire Friday. A fourth victim is in critical condition at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Rosa Bustos, 47; Yolanda Gonzales, 47; and Samantha Ramirez, 6, died in the fire, family members said. The women had hearing and speech disabilities. Gonzales was physically disabled and used a wheelchair. Firefighters pulled them from the home, but it was too late. Olga Hernandez, 55, Gonzales’ sister, is in critical condition at BAMC.
The fire began at 4:30 a.m. at a house in the 7200 block of Westshire Drive. A makeshift memorial continued to grow Friday night outside the home.
“She was a good girl, she played … very, very intelligent girl,” said Fernando Ramirez, Samantha’s grandfather, through an interpreter. “Very, very smart. She used to draw, write things. Ever since she was 2 years old, she started drawing things.”
Rosa Bustos was Fernando’s ex-wife.
“All we can do is just gather up what we can, little pictures, anything we can find that will help us remember tye, they’re forever in our hearts,” Samantha’s mother, Elisa Ramirez said.
“It just feels like a dream that … I don’t want to wake up. I still don’t believe it. I still don’t believe they way the house looks and I can’t see my daughter,” Samantha’s father Daniel Ramirez said.
Bustos was currently married to Julio Bustos, 47, who escaped the fire with his son’s girlfriend. Bustos recently opened her home to her son and his girlfriend and the two sisters.
“They’re good people, these are very good people,” interpreter Maria Johnston said. She’s known the Bustos family for 14 years.
Despite her disability, Rosa worked at USAA for 20 years.
“Rosa didn’t cook very much, but she loved all my cooking,” Johnston said.
Other friends remembered the women fondly.
“Rosa was a very sweet person she tried to help everyone, especially her daughter and her son. She was a good person,” friend Marlowe Planas said. “Yolanda was a very sweet person, she was born crippled and she was deaf. So, she had a hard time walking and everything.”
The home did not have smoke detectors. A space heater is the suspected cause of the fire. However, there are also reports a small barbecue pit was being used to provide heat for puppies near the home.
There have been at least 11 deadly house fires in San Antonio this year. Only one of the homes had a smoke detector.
Hoping to prevent future tragedies, firefighters offered to install smoke detectors for some families who couldn’t afford them.
The fire department got more than 300 calls. And firefighters installed six smoke detectors in the area of Friday’s fire.
Friends, neighbors and family members are collecting donations to help the family. The account is at Woodforest National Bank in the name of Elisa Ramirez.
“I just hope that everybody will pray for those still living and that they can go on with their life and know that the ones that have died are in a better place,” Planas said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/stories/MYSA120806.fatalfire.kens.9cfbdbc.html
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