Community rallies around West Covina family mourning loss of grandmother, 2 children in fire

The smell of smoke lingered in the air of the Rollingwoods Apartments neighborhood in West Covina on Monday, March 6, a day after a fire left a woman and two children dead in the early morning.

An impromptu memorial was growing Monday near the home of the victims. Family friends, residents of the complex and media reports identified the victims as a grandmother, Georgina Yracheta and her two grandchildren, 2-year-old Solomon and infant Luna Doughton. Floral arrangements, candles and three wooden crosses were surrounded by colorful crayon-shaped chalk, an array of stuffed toys and a framed photo of the family.

Fire officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire, though authorities said it isn’t suspicious in origin. As of Monday evening, the coroner’s office had not yet identified the three victims.

“It was a shock, I’m standing here and I still can’t believe it, I keep thinking this isn’t real,” said America Tovar, visiting the memorial on Monday afternoon. Tovar said she was a friend of Georgina for many years – since attending high school together in La Puente.

“She was so loving and protective,” Tovar said of her friend, who was babysitting the children while the parents were out. “She was a doting grandma, she really loved (her grandchildren). She was just a beautiful soul.”

Tovar said that her friend’s family had lived in the apartment for a little over a year. She said that her and her friend were “super close,” they were living down the street from one another in West Covina.

“They were pretty much a close-knit family and I can’t even imagine the devastation of losing both their mother and children,” Tovar said about Georgina’s son, Enrique Doughton and his wife, Pamela — Solomon and Luna’s parents.

A 9-1-1 caller reported a fire at the apartment complex in the 1900 block of East Amar Road at 12:54 a.m. on Sunday, according to Jim Rudroff, an assistant fire chief at the West Covina Fire Department.

The fire appears to have started downstairs, Rudroff said. “The victims were located in the upstairs bedroom,” he said.

Resident Juan Cadena said in Spanish that he was asleep when the fire broke out. He woke up to the sound of fire trucks and smelled smoke. Cadena said he didn’t know the victims but heard it was two children and a woman who died.

Glass lay scattered along the path to the memorial as the boxes to reach fire extinguishers had been broken in the surrounding apartment complexes the night of the fire.

Closed off by police tape, the apartment’s roof was scorched and debris lay in piles on the front lawn of the apartment in the quiet community.

The fire didn’t spread to the three nearby units. There are four units in the building, two were red-tagged and two were yellow-tagged, meaning unsafe and cautious entry, said Rudroff. The fire department doesn’t have an estimated cost of damages yet.

Officers couldn’t enter the apartment because of the severity of the fire, a police statement said.

The onsite manager at Rollingwoods Apartments declined comment.

Family friends and other community members of West Covina and nearby areas have begun efforts to support the Doughton family.

“I’ve been in contact with the City Manager to see what role we play when these tragedies occur,” said West Covina City Councilmember Brian Tabatabai. “Obviously, there was the public safety response. Our regional Red Cross also provided the family with financial assistance, comfort kits, water and snacks, blankets and recovery packets.

Tabatabai added: “As a community we are currently responding to the immediate needs, as we learn more we can see how the city can support those impacted long term.”

A local community advocate is collecting money and other donations for the family at his business, Ba Lan Fine Jewelry, 115 North Citrus Avenue, in Covina.

Go Fund Me pages have also gone up to raise money for the family. One was created by the niece and Goddaughter of Georgina and another by Oscar Ramirez, who works at Diamond Honda in City of Industry with Enrique, the son and father of the victims. The page has mainly been circulated around his employees and the car community that Enrique has worked with.

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Ramirez said he felt compelled to help Enrique, who he described as an admirable person and devoted father.

“He’s a bright young man who always put his kids first,” he said. “That’s what makes this so tragic.”

Ramirez said the Doughton family is thankful for the support and prayers and asked for that people respect their privacy while grieving.

“It speaks volumes about who this young man is and for everybody to reach out – like me, I didn’t think twice, I felt compelled to do something, as little as small as this is,” Ramirez said about the page — which has already raised $33,000 as of 5 p.m. Monday.

“I couldn’t even fathom what this feels like,” he said, “as a parent, as a grandparent, it’s just sad.”