Unnamed girl - 2 yo /Accused: unnamed mother - Santa Barbara, CA

Child injured in vehicle fire

Resident rescues two-year-old from burning minivan

John Palminteri, NewsChannel 3 Senior Reporter, johnp1250@aol.com

POSTED: 01:00 PM PST Feb 25, 2013 UPDATED: 05:27 PM PST Feb 25, 2013

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -

A two-year-old has suffered burns from a minivan fire in Santa Barbara. Firefighters say the vehicle was full of flames when they arrived on Santa Teresita Drive at 10:50 a.m.

The cause of the fire is not known.

A neighbor, Matt Barnett, says he heard a car alarm going off continuously, saw smoke, and ran up the street with a garden hose over his shoulder. He attached it to a nearby valve and started dousing the flames. Barnett said his wife rescued the female child from the burning vehicle. He believed the girl's mother was inside a house nearby at the time.

One resident said the mother was there as a caretaker and had just arrived.

Santa Barbara City and County Firefighters came to the scene to attack the fire and provide medical aide to the injured child. AMR transported the child to Cottage Hospital. One firefighter said the child suffered second and third degree burns to her face. He said she would be transferred to a special burn center at West Hills Hospital.

Santa Barbara City Batalion Chief Lee Waldron said the fire appeared to have started after the vehicle had stopped and he did not believe it was burning while it was being driven. He said firefighters had to use an absorbent sand to stop burning fuel from a leak that was flowing down the street.

http://www.keyt.com/news/Child-injured-in-vehicle-fire/-/17671600/19076882/-/n3kc92z/-/index.html

I do believe that this fits here. The mother was gone for some time. Time for the car alarm to go off, time for some one to take a hose to the vehicle, time for the little angel to get hurt. I shed tears when I read that she had bad burns on her face. A little girls face. No names or charges released yet.
Never leave a child alone in a car, NEVER. William

Child burned in car outside mother’s work


February 27, 2013


A Santa Barbara woman is facing child endangerment charges after the van she had left her 2-year-old alone in caught on fire. [SantaBarbaraIndependent]

Viviana Wink, 29, allegedly left her child strapped in a car seat in
the van parked outside a home on Santa Teresita Drive in Santa Barbara
while she worked as a caretaker for two elderly residents. Wink was in
the home about five minutes when she noticed smoke pouring from the
vehicle.

Crews responded to the fire at about 10:50 a.m. to find the minivan
completely engulfed in flames. The fire had also spread to nearby bushes
and a power pole.

Shortly after fire crews arrived, Wink emerged from the home with her
daughter. They both displayed obvious injuries and were transported to a
nearby hospital.

After receiving conflicting accounts of how the burns were sustained,
fire department officials turned the case over to police who are
continuing to investigate.

The mother sustained minor injuries and was released from the
hospital. Emergency medical personnel transferred the daughter, who
suffered second- and third-degree burns to her face and body, to the
Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks.
http://calcoastnews.com/2013/02/child-burned-in-car-outside-mothers-work/