Apartment Fire Kills 4; Arson Likely

A probable arson-caused fire swept through a two-story apartment house in central Long Beach, killing a woman, two of her children and a 25-year-old man who had gone door-to-door alerting residents to the fire, authorities said today.

A 6-year-old boy, also severely burned, was in critical condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center this morning, a hospital spokesman said.

An estimated 50 other residents were uninjured as they escaped through windows from the “multiple” fires set late Wednesday in the hallways and stairwells of both floors of the 16-unit apartment house at 1334 Peterson Ave., investigators said.

Arson and homicide investigations have begun, Long Beach Police and Fire department spokesmen said.

Firefighters found the badly burned bodies of Domitila Castellanos, 28, and two of her three children, 3-year-old Erika Estevez and 8-year-old Esmeralda Estevez, in a second-floor hallway, arson investigator Doug McClure said.

The third Estevez child, 6-year-old Saul, escaped the building but received second- and third-degree burns over 40% of his body, according to a hospital spokesman.

Raul Navarro, a 25-year-old cleaning man at a local convenience store, was burned to death after “knocking on everyone’s door, warning them of the fire,” Long Beach homicide detective Sgt. Jim Ryals said.