Mobile-home fire victims were deaf, Moreno Valley neighbors say

[Miss-Delectable]

Mobile-home fire victims were deaf, Moreno Valley neighbors say | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Two women died early Sunday and one man escaped with injuries in a fire that consumed a Moreno Valley mobile home, authorities said.

Neighbors said all three were deaf and had connections to the California School for the Deaf in Riverside.

Both women who died were residents of the mobile home, a coroner's news release said. One of the women was 21 years old, the release said, but further details were withheld pending notification of their next of kin.

The fire was reported about 5:30 a.m. at the Sky Trails Mobile Village on Perris Boulevard, a Riverside County Fire Department news release said. Firefighters arrived to find the mobile home engulfed in flames. Two sheds and a second mobile home were also damaged.

Fire spokeswoman Jody Hagemann said a candle being used for light and heat touched off the blaze.

On Sunday afternoon, the pages of a Bible, charred at the edges, were one of few recognizable items in the burned-out shell of the home.

Rick Hall, who manages the park, used a garden hose to spray embers that continued to glow and give off smoke inside the structure.

Hall said a married couple had lived there for about two years. They were both deaf and were in their 20s, he said. The wife and a female friend died in the fire, he said, but the husband escaped with burns to his feet.

None of the neighbors knew them very well, he said, because it was difficult to communicate with them. Hall was the one who said they were in some way affiliated with the California School for the Deaf.

A spokesperson for the school could not be immediately reached Sunday.

"They were always so friendly," said Kathy Riddle, who lives next door. "We always hugged when they were leaving."

Even so, Riddle said, she didn't know much about them. The couple didn't seem to read lips or speak, she said, but would sometimes write notes to communicate with neighbors.

Riddle said she awoke early Sunday to a bright light and immediately realized it was a fire. She grabbed her purse and rushed outside where she saw one of the residents had escaped the flames.

He was gesturing for her to call 911, she said. Riddle said she called for help then grabbed a garden hose but it was already too late.

Another neighbor, Mary Smith, said the couple was recently married. She said they had a cat and several Chihuahuas, which also perished in the blaze.

 

[PowerON]

it sound like they don't have prepare everything at home such as telephone or alarm monitor. But live mobile-house is pretty suck, and dangerous to live. I'm not sure if they have sidekick and could call 911 to have department track down there.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Fire deaths shock deaf community

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When the pre-dawn fire began roaring through Alex and Yandiri Valencia's tidy Moreno Valley mobile home Sunday, the thundering noise jolted their neighbors out of bed. But all three people inside the house were deaf, and two kept on sleeping, oblivious to the flames.

Alex Valencia, who had fallen asleep watching television on the living room couch, woke up as the fire scorched his feet and rushed outside, friends said.

Neighbor Kathy Riddle found him pacing the street in horror as the flames swept toward the back bedroom, where his 21-year-old wife and her friend slept.

He had rushed to warn his wife and her friend, Melissa "Missy" Phoenix, but the bedroom door had melted. He escaped through a vent and ran to the back of the home, smashing a window in a vain attempt to wake his wife, said his friend Jeannine De Loye.

The neighbors who filled the street never heard an alarm, and fire officials believe the Valencias' home wasn't equipped either with regular smoke alarms or alarms for the deaf that set off strobe lights or shake their beds.

When Alex Valencia saw Riddle standing on her porch, he made the shape of a phone with his hand and raised it to his ear -- pleading with her to call 911.

She already had, but it was too late. By the time firefighters arrived, both women had died of smoke inhalation and burns. Fire officials believe a candle left burning on top of the television ignited the blaze.

"There's constant tragedy with the deaf that is avoidable," said De Loye, who had become close friends with the Valencias through her husband, who is deaf. "We've come such a long way just in this century. . . . But they were asleep, so the Sidekicks and the computers burned up. . . . It was up to the neighbors to call 911."

Neighbors and friends confirmed the deaths of the two women, but official confirmation has not been made by the Riverside County coroner's office.

News of the tragedy filtered quickly through the close-knit staff and student body of the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, where both women were former students.

The school immediately called in counselors because so many students and teachers knew the women. Yandiri Valencia, a volleyball and basketball player, boarded on campus after moving here from Acapulco. She graduated in 2004. Phoenix, a cheerleader and class vice president, graduated in 1994.

Laurie Pietro, the school's head of community affairs, said students always "eventually come back here" and retain their ties to the school's network.

"This is where they feel like a family," she said.

It was through the school's nuclear community that Alex and Yandiri Valencia met, while he was working as a student aide in the special-needs division, De Loye said.

"This was her first love. He was older and their relationship, it made you want to be all giddy and cute the way they were," De Loye said. "I know there was 10 years difference between them, but he was young at heart and she was very responsible. So they were a really good balance."

Yandiri Valencia, who was known as Ruby, was always inviting friends to stay at their home, including Phoenix, whom De Loye described as one of the most outgoing people she had ever met.

"She was so friendly, it didn't matter if you were deaf or hearing," De Loye said. "She talked to everyone."

Neighbors said the couple's home at the Sky Trails Mobile Village was often the gathering place for deaf friends from school and the various churches they attended.

Yandiri Valencia spoke to neighbors through hugs and waves, or made a sign of the cross that they interpreted as her daily "God bless you."

Several neighbors said the Valencias often scribbled notes to share their news or ask for help. They wrote that they'd gotten engaged, for instance, and to get a hand in coaxing a new litter of kittens out from underneath their trailer.

Next-door neighbor Jola Smith saved her stack of notes.

"It was our only communication," Smith said as she sat on the steps of her trailer next to the burned shell of the Valencias' home Monday. "We would just write notes and smile and give a hug when needed. . . . They were trying to teach me sign language."

 

[Bebonang]

Wow. That is bad and sad when that happen to them. I, myself, don't know if there is a way to have a special device for me to know there is a smoke or fire in the house. We do have a smoke alarm device in our small house. My husband is hearing and if that happen when the alarm goes off, he will be the one to wake me up but if I live alone, that is terrible. Lucky, that Pek1 have a train hearing ear dog to help him if there is a alarm if that happen. Maybe we should all have a hearing ear dog that would help us know when the alarm rang. The dogs could save our life. All three of them are just not lucky when they don't have a special device or hearing ear dog to help them in time of crisis like this.

 

[Tousi]

Wow. That is bad and sad when that happen to them. I, myself, don't know if there is a way to have a special device for me to know there is a smoke or fire in the house. We do have a smoke alarm device in our small house. My husband is hearing and if that happen when the alarm goes off, he will be the one to wake me up but if I live alone, that is terrible. Lucky, that Pek1 have a train hearing ear dog to help him if there is a alarm if that happen. Maybe we should all have a hearing ear dog that would help us know when the alarm rang. The dogs could save our life. All three of them are just not lucky when they don't have a special device or hearing ear dog to help them in time of crisis like this.

There are very powerful strobe lights or just regular light bulbs you can use with the alarm system.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Smoke detectors for deaf could have saved Moreno Valley women

URL="http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_deaf05.580e65.html"]http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_deaf05.580e65.html[/URL]

Special smoke detectors equipped to alert deaf or hard-of-hearing residents take work to find and are expensive. But one might have saved the two deaf women who perished in a mobile-home fire Sunday morning.

The detectors use strobe lights, high frequency sound, vibrations or a combination to alert residents. Fire officials said they have found no evidence that any type of smoke detector was in the Moreno Valley home.

Brad DeLoye was friends with both women. All graduated from the California School for the Deaf, Riverside.

"Better technology, they needed that in their home," said DeLoye.

A third graduate of the school died in July from carbon monoxide poisoning in a fire in her mobile home in Idaho.

The alarms start at about $100 -- regular alarms can be had for $10 -- and cannot be purchased at most hardware stores, and few programs exist to subsidize such purchases.

The city of Riverside has a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist with the purchases but hasn't found volunteers to install the devices.

Riverside County is now looking at applying for such a grant.

The two women, Melissa Phoenix and Yandiri "Ruby" Pacheco, graduated from the school 10 years apart but were close friends.

While in school, Phoenix was a cheerleader, class vice president and involved with journalism and photography. She graduated in 1994.

Pacheco lived on campus after moving from Acapulco, Mexico, and participated in volleyball, softball and cheerleading. She married Alex Valencia about two years ago. She would have turned 22 Friday.

A lit candle somehow started the fire about 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Phoenix and Pacheco were asleep in a bedroom and Valencia was sleeping in the living room, family members said.

Both women died in the home and Valencia escaped with burns to his feet.

Riverside County fire Capt. Julie Hutchinson could not say for certain that an alarm would have made a difference.

However, she said smoke detectors are important for any household, and families with members who have special needs should determine what will work best.

In California, landlords are not required to provide a special smoke alarm for a person who is deaf, but if a tenant requests permission to install one, the landlord cannot refuse, said Ron Javor, assistant director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

Riverside obtained a FEMA grant to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing residents with a combination strobe and high-decibel smoke detector, said Samantha Neathery, a Riverside Fire Department public education specialist.

The department is working with the Center on Deafness-Inland Empire to distribute the alarms.

Staff writer Gregor McGavin contributed to this report.

information

Fire safety for deaf people

Visit usfa.dhs.gov/citizens/ and click on "People with disabilities"

Smoke detectors

for deaf people

Harris Communications: Harriscomm.com

Assistech: Azhearing.com

Deaf Alerter: deaf-alerter.com

 

[PowerON]

I find is offense that device for deaf cost too high while hearing get something cheap to save their life.

 

[Bebonang]

That is true, beside I don't know where to buy the light strobe for the smoke alarm. I have not talk to the Canadian Hearing Society on the mainland about it. I will ask them about it and see if they have it. I don't have a lot of money myself. My husband and I are struggling with our budget and don't have one hundred dollars for the special light strobe. That is sad that we can not get special device when the landlord say that we can not unless ask for permission from the landlord or FEMA. It does not make our life any easier when we have problem with being Deaf or late-deaf. Hearing people don't have no respect for us trying to live a normal life as best as we can. That"s discrimination.

 

[PowerON]

That is true, beside I don't know where to buy the light strobe for the smoke alarm. I have not talk to the Canadian Hearing Society on the mainland about it. I will ask them about it and see if they have it. I don't have a lot of money myself. My husband and I are struggling with our budget and don't have one hundred dollars for the special light strobe. That is sad that we can not get special device when the landlord say that we can not unless ask for permission from the landlord or FEMA. It does not make our life any easier when we have problem with being Deaf or late-deaf. Hearing people don't have no respect for us trying to live a normal life as best as we can. That"s discrimination.

Oh poor you, Canada took lot of money from you in tax.

They should buy equipment for you as "medicare"