Grandmother was babysitting her 2 grandchildren when all 3 were killed in West Covina apartment fire
The youngest of the grandchildren was only 3 months old.
WEST COVINA, Calif. (KABC) -- A community in West Covina is heartbroken after learning the three people killed in an apartment fire on Sunday were a grandmother and her two young grandchildren, one of whom was a 3-month-old baby.
The fire broke out just before 1 a.m. at an apartment complex along Amar Road, according to the West Covina Fire Department.
When firefighters arrived, they encountered large flames ripping through multiple windows of the building.
Close friends of the family told ABC7 54-year-old Georgina Yracheta was babysitting her two grandchildren - 3-month old Luna Doughton and 3-year-old Solomon Doughton - while their parents were out on a date.
They call it all an unspeakable horror.
"It still hasn't sunk in," said family friend America Medrano. "It's hard to take, like I said, there's no words to describe it. It's unbelievable. We just loved her so much, she was just so friendly and outgoing and such a wonderful personality."
Friends said Yracheta was fearlessly protective of her grandchildren and whatever happened must have overwhelmed them, preventing the grandmother from saving her grandchildren and herself.
"Georgi was the kind of person ... fierce maternal instincts," said family friend Martha Cerda. "She didn't care. She would've gotten up barefoot, naked, whatever, she would've just wrapped those babies and jumped out the window, broken every bone in her body, walked through the flames, it didn't matter. She was going to get everybody out."
"The only thing I can think of is that God put them to sleep before he took them so they wouldn't suffer. He knew his plan. That's my belief," she continued.
Family friends said the children's parents - Enrique and Pamela Doughton - are completely distraught.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation and it's unclear if smoke detectors went off when the fire broke out. One unit sustained severe damage in the fire, while other nearby units had some smoke damage.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been created for the family. As of Monday afternoon, more than $12,000 has been donated.
