Oakland fire tragedy: 'My mama's burning'

(12-30) 19:56 PST Oakland -- Fire on a frigid night tore through an East Oakland apartment, killing a mother, her daughter and a man who lived in an upstairs unit that had its power shut off earlier this month.

Desperate for electricity, the mother and her two children had dangled a heavy-duty outdoor extension cord over their second-story balcony and plugged it into their downstairs neighbor's outlet. That jury-rigged electrical system - used to power lamps, appliances and strings of Christmas lights - sparked just before 2 a.m. Thursday and ignited a blaze in the apartment at 82nd Avenue and Birch Street that shot flames out of the second-story windows.

Friends identified the dead woman as Ruth Muņoz, a 27-year-old immigrant from El Salvador. They said she was a housekeeper who had lost her job six months ago and was struggling to make ends meet for herself and her children, ages 7 and 3. Muņoz's husband, friends said, is behind bars, awaiting deportation to El Salvador.

The woman and her 3-year-old girl, identified by friends as Yvonne Benavides, died in the blaze along with a man neighbors identified only as "Memo."

Memo, who was staying in Muņoz's second bedroom, carried Muņoz's older daughter, Allison Benavides, to safety when the fire started, fire officials said. But he died after re-entering the burning apartment to help Muņoz and Yvonne, fire officials said.

Two other people broke their legs when they jumped from second-story windows to escape the fire.

One first-floor resident who fled the burning building described a horrific early-morning scene.

"I could hear the noises upstairs, and the screaming of ladies when they were jumping out the windows," said Erika Arana, who was in a downstairs apartment with her three children. "That's what woke us up."

Arana had moved into the small apartment building only the day before, invited by residents who knew she needed a place but had no money for rent. The apartment building is bank-owned, and several people said the bank had apparently given up on collecting rent.

Across the street, Edwin Benevides was awakened by his son Diego as flames billowed from the four-unit apartment building. Outside, he saw Allison standing in the street.

"She was screaming, 'Mama! My mama's burning,' "he said.

Benevides said he knew his neighbors only vaguely. Muņoz, he said, would make and sell pupusas and other Salvadoran food.

"It was just people living their lives," he said.

Thirty-one firefighters rushed to the scene, said Eleanor Bolin-Chew, a battalion chief with the Oakland Fire Department.

Within minutes of arriving, firefighters entered the apartment and pulled out Muņoz, Yvonne and Memo. All three were pronounced dead at a hospital.

By late Thursday morning the firefighting crews were gone, leaving heaps of blackened furniture and other items piled in the driveway of the apartment building, a nondescript beige structure with three garage doors facing the street and tall security gates on either side.

Inside the gate leading to the apartment doors, ashes and soot covered a stroller, a scooter and two small bicycles.

Ruby Ibarra, a friend of Muņoz, said Muņoz moved to the United States from El Salvador six years ago and had lived in the apartment for two years. Muņoz had struggled since losing her housekeeping job, Ibarra said.

"She was a good mom," she said. "She was a very happy person trying to get a better future for her family in the United States."

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut off power to the second-story unit on Dec. 2, fire officials said. Brandi Ehlers, a PG&E; spokeswoman, would not say why. If it was a billing issue, Muņoz would have had 65 days to pay her bill before the power was turned off, Ehlers said.