A 51-year-old San Jose mother died early Tuesday in a three-alarm fire that critically injured her 6-year-old son and husband, and left her 12-year-old with minor injuries, fire officials said.
"It's a sad morning," said Fire Capt. Mary Gutierrez. "This affects the fire department and everyone out here. It's very hard."
By afternoon, Gutierrez said the 6-year-old was on a ventilator and the father was in surgery. He had severe cuts after he broke a window in the apartment unit on Warfield Way just before 3 a.m. in a desperate attempt to free his family, Gutierrez said.
A family member told NBC Bay Area's Kim Tere that the six-year-old had been declared brain dead.
His 12-year-old son was being monitored in the hospital.
The name of the mother who died has not yet been released. The three others living in unit C with the family included the boys' aunt, uncle and grandfather. They were not injured, Gutierrez said.
Fire investigators do not know where or how the fire started, but they spotted heavy damage in the garage and in the unit itself. Foul play is not suspected.
Local
Crews knocked down the flames in about an hour.
Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-432-4758 or lisa.fernandez@nbcuni.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/ljfernandez.
