A longtime resident of the McClure Ranch on Point Reyes was severely burned as fire swept through her home early Friday morning.
Natalia Larios, 44, suffered third-degree burns over one-third of her body and severe inhalation burns in her lungs. On Wednesday she remained in critical but stable condition at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.
Family members pulled Larios from the burning house after she had run through the house screaming to wake her sons and collapsed unconscious. Doctors at first predicted Larios might die from her injuries, but recently said her condition is improving, said husband Cresencio Larios.
"Yesterday the doctor said [to our sons] 'It's going to be a sad Christmas, but at least you are going to have a mother,'" Mr. Larios told The Light Tuesday, with friend Rebecca Porrata helping to interpret. "The [body] burns aren't our biggest concern, it's the damage in her lungs."
The Larios family has lived at the McClure/I Ranch dairy for 12 years, in what rancher Bob McClure described as four modular military barracks from Mare Island Navy base converted to a square, three-bedroom house in the 1950s.
Natalia Larios has worked as head maid at Golden Hinde Inn and Marina in Inverness, while Cresencio is a worker on the dairy. Also living at the home are sons Geraldo, who works in Novato, and Fernando and Renaldo, who are students at Tomales High School.
Friends have set up an account, #004-019041, at the Bank of Petaluma to aid the Larios family. Crescencio Larios said he wants to thank the many people who have already offered clothing, good wishes, and even a place for Natalia's mother to stay when she visits from Colima, Mexico.
Friday's blaze was the third structure fire in Point Reyes National Seashore in the last two months.
"When a barn burns down it's sad, but when someone gets hurt, you feel terrible," said McClure. Calling the recent rash of fires on the peninsula "weird," he said "they say that bad luck comes in threes, so hopefully this is the end of it."
Two other fires on Point Reyes ranches, on Oct. 12 and Nov. 29, devastated historic barns. In addition, the Evans family lost more than $250,000 in equipment and feed, while the Nunes family also lost feed although 50 calves narrowly escaped flames.
The ranches and buildings on the peninsula are owned by the National Park but leased back the ranchers, who also carry the insurance.
County fire investigators attributed the Evans/Grossi blaze to electrical problems and the Nunes fire to spontaneous combustion of green hay. If another barn had burned down, investigators may have explored whether something unusual was going on with the hay, said county fire investigator Keith Parker.
The fire at McClure Ranch began in the kitchen, perhaps sparked by a cigarette on a table or Christmas lights near lace curtains, Parker said. Structural damages were estimated at $65,000, while loss of contents was estimated at $25,000, he said.
Mr. Larios said he has no idea how the fire started. His wife was in the livingroom watching a movie when he went out to feed the cattle at about 11 p.m. Thursday.
"I was coming from having fed the cows at about 12:20. At that moment, I saw a huge fireball blow up through a roof and then die down. I didn't know where it was," Larios said. "As I approached the house, I saw my sons outside, and [Natalia] hanging halfway out the window. They couldn't get her out."
Natalia Larios was awakened by the fire and then rushed through the one-story house to wake Fernando and Renaldo, who escaped out windows. Screaming for the third son, Geraldo, Larios collapsed before making it out a window herself. As it turned out, Geraldo was with friends in Point Reyes Station.
Husband Crescencio said he and his sons pulled Natalia unconscious from the burning building. He revived her with CPR as one son rushed to McClure's home to phone for help.
Investigator Parker said that all three people inside may have died if they had spent another minute in the house. Although the house had a smoke alarm, it either wasn't heard or wasn't working.
It took 23 minutes for firefighters to arrive at McClure's, with an emergency call placed 40 minutes after midnight. A team of 22 firefighters saved a garage about six feet away from the home, with Larios' truck inside.
Larios said he found the vehicle keys in the rubble, and also recovered family photographs. Lost, however, was a wallet holding one-month's pay and every other possession his family owned.
Natalia and the sons were taken by ambulance to Marin General Hospital and were met there by daughter Shawa Larios of Tomales. The sons were treated and released.
Shawa Larios said her mother was asking about Geraldo and the rest of the family. Her mother is a wonderful cook and is always writing down recipes, she added. The recipes, and even pots and pans are now gone. "She had a big kitchen tablecloth she had crocheted herself. They lost everything," the daugher said. "I want everyone to help us pray for her - that she gets better soon."
"From one moment to the next, you have nothing. That hurts, but the material things, they can be recouped," Cresencio Larios said. "All my concern is for my wife, because no one can replace her. ... With the help of the community and God, we're going to come out of it okay."
Rancher McClure said his insurance should pay for relocating the family, which is staying temporarily at a vacant apartment at the ranch.
Larios said his wife has Medi-Cal insurance and that hospital officials have assured him "not to worry" about the bill. However, coverage for rehabilitation and therapy remains uncertain.