Three small children died early Sunday in a fire that destroyed a house in Bell.
Jo Ann Parks, their mother, escaped through a window with burns on her face and hands after trying unsuccessfully to reach the bedrooms where the children were trapped.
Authorities identified the victims as Jessica Amber Parks, 1, and her sister RoAnn, 2, who were found in one bedroom. Ronald Edward Parks III, 4, was found in the closet of a second bedroom.
The fire erupted at 12:25 a.m. Maria del Flores, who lived nearby, said it sounded "like a bomb" going off in the neighborhood on Sherman Way.
Reports indicated that it was the screams of the children that awakened Jo Ann Parks. Her husband, Ronald, was at work at the time.
After failing to reach the children, the mother escaped through a window and called police from a neighbor's house.
Bell-Cudahy Police Sgt. Brad Hooper said he and other officers, using a garden hose to beat back the flames, tried to force their way into the burning house, but they were driven back by heat and smoke.
"It was a wall of fire," he said.
Another officer tried to enter through the window of one of the children's bedrooms, but was forced back.
Several policemen were treated for superficial burns and smoke inhalation.
Los Angeles County firefighters put out the flames in 15 minutes. Damage was estimated at $65,000. The cause of the fire was unknown.
The blaze left Jo Ann and Ronald Parks homeless for the second time.
After leaving the fire scene Sunday afternoon, the couple moved into the Rio Hondo Temporary Home in Norwalk, which they had left only five weeks earlier.
Ronald Parks said his family was initially forced to leave their home in Fontana and seek shelter at Rio Hondo after he was laid off from his job in an ice cream factory early this year.
"We had to pack up and move in here," he said in a brief interview. "My funds were too low."
The Norwalk facility, which subsists on donations, provides shelter for up to 60 days.
The Parks family left after 43 days, when Parks was rehired at his old job and managed to find a 1,000-square-foot, wood-frame house in Bell.
When the couple returned Sunday, Joseph Cilbrith, the resident manager of the shelter, cleared everyone from the area where they will stay.
"The last thing they need is little children running around," he said.
When Cilbrith asked him how he and his wife would go on, the shelter manager recounted, Ron Parks handed him his Bible, opened to Psalms 27:1.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" it says.
Jo Ann Parks, their mother, escaped through a window with burns on her face and hands after trying unsuccessfully to reach the bedrooms where the children were trapped.
Authorities identified the victims as Jessica Amber Parks, 1, and her sister RoAnn, 2, who were found in one bedroom. Ronald Edward Parks III, 4, was found in the closet of a second bedroom.
The fire erupted at 12:25 a.m. Maria del Flores, who lived nearby, said it sounded "like a bomb" going off in the neighborhood on Sherman Way.
Reports indicated that it was the screams of the children that awakened Jo Ann Parks. Her husband, Ronald, was at work at the time.
After failing to reach the children, the mother escaped through a window and called police from a neighbor's house.
Bell-Cudahy Police Sgt. Brad Hooper said he and other officers, using a garden hose to beat back the flames, tried to force their way into the burning house, but they were driven back by heat and smoke.
"It was a wall of fire," he said.
Another officer tried to enter through the window of one of the children's bedrooms, but was forced back.
Several policemen were treated for superficial burns and smoke inhalation.
Los Angeles County firefighters put out the flames in 15 minutes. Damage was estimated at $65,000. The cause of the fire was unknown.
The blaze left Jo Ann and Ronald Parks homeless for the second time.
After leaving the fire scene Sunday afternoon, the couple moved into the Rio Hondo Temporary Home in Norwalk, which they had left only five weeks earlier.
Ronald Parks said his family was initially forced to leave their home in Fontana and seek shelter at Rio Hondo after he was laid off from his job in an ice cream factory early this year.
"We had to pack up and move in here," he said in a brief interview. "My funds were too low."
The Norwalk facility, which subsists on donations, provides shelter for up to 60 days.
The Parks family left after 43 days, when Parks was rehired at his old job and managed to find a 1,000-square-foot, wood-frame house in Bell.
When the couple returned Sunday, Joseph Cilbrith, the resident manager of the shelter, cleared everyone from the area where they will stay.
"The last thing they need is little children running around," he said.
When Cilbrith asked him how he and his wife would go on, the shelter manager recounted, Ron Parks handed him his Bible, opened to Psalms 27:1.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" it says.
Three small children died early Sunday in a fire that destroyed a house in Bell.
Jo Ann Parks, their mother, escaped through a window with burns on her face and hands after trying unsuccessfully to reach the bedrooms where the children were trapped.
Authorities identified the victims as Jessica Amber Parks, 1, and her sister RoAnn, 2, who were found in one bedroom. Ronald Edward Parks III, 4, was found in the closet of a second bedroom.
The fire erupted at 12:25 a.m. Maria del Flores, who lived nearby, said it sounded "like a bomb" going off in the neighborhood on Sherman Way.
Reports indicated that it was the screams of the children that awakened Jo Ann Parks. Her husband, Ronald, was at work at the time.
After failing to reach the children, the mother escaped through a window and called police from a neighbor's house.
Bell-Cudahy Police Sgt. Brad Hooper said he and other officers, using a garden hose to beat back the flames, tried to force their way into the burning house, but they were driven back by heat and smoke.
"It was a wall of fire," he said.
Another officer tried to enter through the window of one of the children's bedrooms, but was forced back.
Several policemen were treated for superficial burns and smoke inhalation.
Los Angeles County firefighters put out the flames in 15 minutes. Damage was estimated at $65,000. The cause of the fire was unknown.
The blaze left Jo Ann and Ronald Parks homeless for the second time.
After leaving the fire scene Sunday afternoon, the couple moved into the Rio Hondo Temporary Home in Norwalk, which they had left only five weeks earlier.
Ronald Parks said his family was initially forced to leave their home in Fontana and seek shelter at Rio Hondo after he was laid off from his job in an ice cream factory early this year.
"We had to pack up and move in here," he said in a brief interview. "My funds were too low."
The Norwalk facility, which subsists on donations, provides shelter for up to 60 days.
The Parks family left after 43 days, when Parks was rehired at his old job and managed to find a 1,000-square-foot, wood-frame house in Bell.
When the couple returned Sunday, Joseph Cilbrith, the resident manager of the shelter, cleared everyone from the area where they will stay.
"The last thing they need is little children running around," he said.
When Cilbrith asked him how he and his wife would go on, the shelter manager recounted, Ron Parks handed him his Bible, opened to Psalms 27:1.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" it says.
Jo Ann Parks, their mother, escaped through a window with burns on her face and hands after trying unsuccessfully to reach the bedrooms where the children were trapped.
Authorities identified the victims as Jessica Amber Parks, 1, and her sister RoAnn, 2, who were found in one bedroom. Ronald Edward Parks III, 4, was found in the closet of a second bedroom.
The fire erupted at 12:25 a.m. Maria del Flores, who lived nearby, said it sounded "like a bomb" going off in the neighborhood on Sherman Way.
Reports indicated that it was the screams of the children that awakened Jo Ann Parks. Her husband, Ronald, was at work at the time.
After failing to reach the children, the mother escaped through a window and called police from a neighbor's house.
Bell-Cudahy Police Sgt. Brad Hooper said he and other officers, using a garden hose to beat back the flames, tried to force their way into the burning house, but they were driven back by heat and smoke.
"It was a wall of fire," he said.
Another officer tried to enter through the window of one of the children's bedrooms, but was forced back.
Several policemen were treated for superficial burns and smoke inhalation.
Los Angeles County firefighters put out the flames in 15 minutes. Damage was estimated at $65,000. The cause of the fire was unknown.
The blaze left Jo Ann and Ronald Parks homeless for the second time.
After leaving the fire scene Sunday afternoon, the couple moved into the Rio Hondo Temporary Home in Norwalk, which they had left only five weeks earlier.
Ronald Parks said his family was initially forced to leave their home in Fontana and seek shelter at Rio Hondo after he was laid off from his job in an ice cream factory early this year.
"We had to pack up and move in here," he said in a brief interview. "My funds were too low."
The Norwalk facility, which subsists on donations, provides shelter for up to 60 days.
The Parks family left after 43 days, when Parks was rehired at his old job and managed to find a 1,000-square-foot, wood-frame house in Bell.
When the couple returned Sunday, Joseph Cilbrith, the resident manager of the shelter, cleared everyone from the area where they will stay.
"The last thing they need is little children running around," he said.
When Cilbrith asked him how he and his wife would go on, the shelter manager recounted, Ron Parks handed him his Bible, opened to Psalms 27:1.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" it says.
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