Services are held for two children killed in van fire

Keith Paul

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 11:31 a.m.

Funeral services took place today for the two children who died Saturday after a fire started inside their family's van.

Metro Police and the Las Vegas Fire Department have ruled that the fire was an accident.

Services at St. Christopher's Catholic Church, 1840 N. Bruce St., were to begin at noon for Liborio Lugo Jr., 4, and Aaron Lugo, 3 months.

Julita Lizaso's six children were in the van parked near a friend's apartment in the 2800 block of Stewart Avenue in eastern Las Vegas when the fire started at 5:50 p.m.

Her four other children, Marianita Lizaso, 10, Thomas Padron, 9, Ignacio Lugo, 5, and Aaron's twin, Adam, were able to escape unharmed or with minor burns.

Police and fire investigators concluded the fire was accidental, started by one of the six children playing with matches.

Lizaso and her children were in no emotional state to talk to investigators after the fatal fire Saturday, Lizaso said. One of her children was traumatized, she said, when he told investigators he had been playing with matches.

"I don't have any recollection of me talking to them or them talking to (the children). They haven't proven to me what caused the fire," she said Wednesday. "Right now it is an accidental fire that no one knows how it started."

"The (child) admitted to investigators playing with matches," Metro Lt. Wayne Petersen said. "All the evidence that was found supports it, and the (child) admitted doing it, so the conclusion is that was the cause."

Lizaso refuses to believe Ignacio, or any of her children, were playing with matches or a lighter in the van.

"They know not to play with matches. If they find matches, they always bring them to me," she said. "I know my kids weren't playing with matches. They've got to prove to me that I'm wrong."

She said there weren't any matches in the van, and her lighter was in her purse under the seat.

Without new evidence, it is not likely the case will be reopened, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

Lizaso was at the friend's apartment, a couple of blocks from her home, on Saturday to introduce her infant twins to the family. After about 20 minutes, she said, she loaded the six children into the van, but heard Aaron cry, because he didn't have his bottle.

"I took three steps away from the van and yelled for my friend to bring the bottle from inside, when one of my sons started hollering and there was fire in there," she said. "I started getting all the kids out of the van. I had just gotten Ignacio out and was going back into the van for the baby (Aaron) when I was pulled out (by friends)."

The fire then led to an explosion inside the van, engulfing the vehicle, Lizaso said.

"I could hear Jr. (Liborio) screaming," Lizaso said as she choked back tears. "I'll never forget hearing him, and I couldn't get to him."