Saturday, January 27, 2007

Family escapes fire through window

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Bosque Farms Less than week after flames destroyed a Bosque Farms home, a family of six remains homeless.

The Barajas family managed to escape without serious injury, but they now are forced to start their lives over with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and the kindness of strangers.

The fire broke out just before 10:30 p.m. at the family's home on Carpenter Drive. Aurelia Barajas had just put her four daughters to bed and was waiting for a phone call from her husband, Jose, who was on his way back to the Department of Corrections training academy in Santa Fe.

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"My three youngest daughters were in bed with me, and the older one was in her bedroom," said Aurelia Barajas. "I stayed awake waiting for my husband's phone call, and I thought I smelled smoke, but I wasn't sure if it was my hands because we had started a fire in the fireplace that day."

Barajas said she really didn't think much of it at first, but when she heard a crackling noise, she got out of bed to investigate. She opened her bedroom door, and walked about four steps before she saw the smoke billowing up to the second floor.

"I freaked," Barajas said. "The first thing I thought of was that I needed to get my girls out of there. I went to my daughter's bedroom, and it was already full of smoke. I tried to wake her up, but she just wouldn't wake up."

Barajas said her 14-year-old daughter, Crystal, awoke after being shaken. The teenager followed her mother back into her bedroom where she woke up her younger sisters, Selena, 12, Emily, 9, and Gabriela, 3, as their mother called her neighbors.

"I just told them that our house was burning, and we needed to get out," Barajas said. "We needed air because we couldn't breathe, so I opened a window and started screaming that we needed to get out."

Barajas opened another bedroom window and pushed out a screen and started helping her daughters out onto roof above the garage. Her neighbors, Steve and Laura Montoya, came running to their aid with a ladder in hand and helped Barajas and her children to the ground.

Once safely outside, Barajas and her four daughters, dressed only in their pajamas, walked across the street to the Montoyas' home where they were checked by paramedics. Barajas said everyone was fine despite having some smoke in their throats.

According to Bosque Farms Fire Chief Spencer Wood, the fire was most likely caused by fireplace ashes that had re-ignited. He said the family had cleaned the fireplace and placed the ashes in a box and left it in front of the television in the den.

"(The ashes) in the box probably stayed hot and just re-ignited," Wood said. "That's why we tell people to put them in a metal bucket and outside away from the house. They were very lucky to have gotten out because, if it started an hour later, the outcome would have been a lot different."

Wood said firefighters from Bosque Farms, Peralta and the Valencia-El Cerro fire departments were able to contain the flames to the den, but the entire house was left with severe smoke and heat damage. He also said while the home is probably structurally fine, the house will have to undergo a significant renovation.

The Barajases, who moved to Bosque Farms in July so Aurelia could stay home with their kids and live a slower-paced life, now have to start all over. Without a home, the family has been taken in by their neighbors and are staying with the Montoyas until they can find an apartment.

Barajas said when she went to file a claim with her insurance company earlier this week, she was told that her policy had expired in December. Now, the family is trying to figure what their next move will be.

"We have nothing," Barajas said. "The Red Cross has helped us with clothes and will help us with the first month's rent, but, right now, we're stuck."

An account has been established at MyBank to help the family with their financial needs. Anyone who wishes to donate can ask for the Aurelia Barajas donation account at any MyBank branch.

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