web powered by 
Home 
News
2 victims identified in fatal fire
Woman, 72, and 12-year-old girl lost their lives Water hits the burning bedroom of Anita Subias early Saturday. Photo courtesy of Debra Wakefield Local resident Anita Subias, 72, and Litisha Jenson, 12, of Fortuna, died after a mobile home in which they were sleeping caught fire at 1950 Northcrest Drive, No. 57. Subias died at the scene and Litisha died Sunday at a Bay Area hospital, although local officials contacted by The Triplicate were unaware of her death Monday. The lone survivor, Joann Jenson, was the caretaker of Subias and the grandmother of Litisha, who was visiting for the summer. Jenson gave this account to The Triplicate on Tuesday: She and her granddaughter, Litisha, played a card game at the mobile home Friday night until around midnight. They went to sleep in the front bedroom around 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Jenson woke up around 2:45 a.m. “I felt the heat on my face,” she said. She saw Subias’ bedroom was on fire. She woke up Litisha and headed for a sliding glass door leading to the front porch. As it was opened, black smoke filled the trailer. She stepped out of the mobile home, looking back to make sure her granddaughter was still following. “When I turned back she wasn’t there,” Jenson said. She yelled for her granddaughter, but to no avail. Litisha was deaf without her hearing aids, which she routinely took out before going to sleep, Jenson said. She crawled back into the mobile home four times, but couldn’t reach her granddaughter. “The smoke just takes your breath away in one or two seconds,” she said. Two men came to the porch offering help, but they couldn’t manage to get more than a couple of feet into the mobile home. An officer arrived and ushered the three away from the porch. Jenson was taken to an ambulance. Litisha was unconscious when firefighters pulled her from the mobile home. She was resuscitated, but never regained consciousness, Jenson said. Litisha was taken to Sutter Coast Hospital and then flown to a burn center in San Francisco, where she was placed on life support. Litisha was taken off life support Sunday, on Jenson’s birthday. “I’m dearly going to miss my granddaughter for the rest of my life,” said Jenson, who was released from Sutter Coast on Monday. “She was a beautiful little girl. She loved riding horses. She was a straight ‘A’ student and a cheerleader.” Some of Litisha’s organs were donated to help others, Jenson said. The cause of the fire may have been someone smoking in bed, a Crescent City Fire Department statement said. It is being investigated by Cal Fire. Jenson said Subias frequently smoked in bed. “I begged and begged for her to quit smoking in the middle of the night,” Jenson said. She said she knew Subias for 20 years and had lived with her for two and a half years. Jenson said she had extinguished fires in the past that were caused by Subias smoking in bed while on medication. “She’s burnt holes in her blankets and stuff.” Jenson is currently staying with a friend. |
Triplicate front page
Get home delivery of the Triplicate for only $7.94 a month. After filling out one simple and secure online form you could be on your way to learning more about your city, state and world than you ever have before.
