Mother and 4 children flee fire in home

3/18/2005

What started as a grease fire last night at 3312 Cherry St. near Cambridge Street left a woman and her four children homeless and caused $25,000 damage to the house and its contents, fire officials said.

Tina Bean and her four children, the occupants of the two-story, wood-frame house, escaped unhurt by the time fire crews arrived about 7:40 p.m. and found fire in the kitchen on the first floor, Battalion Fire Chief Luis Santiago said.

The blaze started when grease in a frying pan the woman's teenage son was using to deep-fry some food caught fire and spilled from the pan, Chief Santiago said.

Firefighters had the fire under control within 15 minutes, before it could spread beyond the kitchen, the chief said.

The Red Cross was assisting the family.