The woman who died in a house fire on Mount Helix Saturday afternoon was a bed-ridden grandmother who was once a nurse to sailors and even taught herself to sculpt, according to her granddaughter who escaped the flames.
NBC 7 spoke with Hannah Henderson on Monday. She and her husband and two children lived with her grandmother Janice Henderson, 86, and was her primary caretaker. The elder Henderson struggled with COPD, relied on supplemental oxygen and was unable to leave her bed in her upper-level room.
Hannah Henderson was downstairs of the home at the time the fire erupted, napping after a restless night. She said she can’t help second-guessing her decision to do so.
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"She would scream my name when she needed me. I was just so far on the other side of the house I didn’t hear it," Hannah Henderson said.
Hannah Henderson said she was startled awake by a landscaper working nearby that spotted the fire. They attempted to get her grandmother to safety but couldn’t get close.
"The fire was just billowing out. Where I could normally see down the hallway and see my grandmother, there was nothing but fire and flames," she said.
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She thinks the fire started near a jacuzzi situated just behind her grandmother’s bedroom. A wall separated the jacuzzi from Janice Henderson's bed and several bottles of oxygen. Hannah believes the tanks explain the fire's explosiveness and quick spread.
In her younger years, Janice Henderson was a Navy nurse, as well as a self-taught sculptor, according to her granddaughter. She made many casts from iron and some of her animal sculptures are on display at the San Diego Zoo. She also carved large animals out of wood.
And while Janice Henderson's struggle at the end of her life drew great pity from her granddaughter, it was her accomplishments that make Hannah Henderson so proud.
“A very strong-willed woman who didn’t let anything stop her," she said describing her grandmother. "I loved my grandmother, she loved me. We were together every day, all day.”
Hannah Henderson said the home has been red-tagged and is unliveable for the time being. She and her family are currently staying a few nights in a hotel but are unsure where they'll go after that.
Firefighters stopped the spread of the fire within about 30 minutes, according to Battalion Chief Nick Nava. He said the blaze was difficult to access because of the road structure and how the house was built into the hillside.
Fire investigators have yet to confirm the cause of the fire.
