Community responds to fire victims with donations

Angie Wagner

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 9:17 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - As a family prepared to bury three young brothers killed in a mobile-home fire, firefighters still grieving for the boys said they were overwhelmed by the community's offering of support.

"It's truly amazing," Clark County Assistant Fire Chief Joe Planck said Wednesday. "I'm completely overwhelmed. I've never seen anything like this."

Christian Gonzales, 3, Orazio Gonzales, 4, and Omar Gonzales, 5, were trapped Tuesday in two rear bedrooms of the mobile home on the city's northeast side.

Elizabeth Gonzales, 25, the mother of the children, and a fourth son, 18-month-old Ilan, were treated and released for smoke inhalation at University Medical Center.

Mrs. Gonzales also received severe cuts from breaking out her bedroom window and crawling through it with her youngest son under her arm, said Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky. Once outside, the mother broke several more windows to try to save her other children, but was overcome by the flames.

Fire officials ruled the fire accidental. It started in a couch in the living room, but investigators do not know the ignition source.

"Unfortunately the three eyewitnesses are deceased," La-Sky said. "We're never going to know exactly what started it."

By Wednesday afternoon, the fence around the charred remains of the mobile home was filled with teddy bears and flowers from well-wishers.

The Fire Department had received hundreds of calls from people wanting to help the family.

Mrs. Gonzales and her husband, Omar, are separated and in the process of getting a divorce, La-Sky said.

The mother and surviving boy were staying with relatives Wednesday, but Caesars Palace hotel-casino, where the woman works, and the Polo Towers had offered the family free lodging.

"There's been a real outpouring of support," La-Sky said.

Planck said he was amazed at the number of offers, from furniture and clothing to food and a new mobile home.

"I've never seen anything like this. I couldn't even guess how much money we're going to raise," he said.

Several anonymous donors offered to pay for the boys' funeral, but Palm Mortuary had already planned to handle the arrangements for free, Planck said.

Funeral services were pending. The department planned to have an honor guard participate in the service.

"The guys tried really, really hard," Planck said of the firefighters' attempts to save the children. "The guys are really upset. This is hard on everybody."

What upset firefighters more Tuesday were drivers who refused to get out of the way of the fire trucks.

"That's a daily occurrence. You have to fight your way through traffic," Planck said. "They think we can move these engines around cars. It's really frustrating.

"Your adrenaline is pumping so much, especially with three children trapped in a fire. I just don't understand."

Planck said getting to the mobile home faster would not have made a difference.

"We never stood a chance," he said, fighting back tears.