Misfortune struck an Escondido family for the second time this week when a fire erupted in their recently flooded home.
"(My) maternity leave started three weeks ago, so I’m starting with a newborn in the house -- then to water damage then to a fire," Marie Martinez told NBC 7.
The fire erupted just before 5 a.m. inside the family's five-bedroom home on W. 7th Avenue, the same home that was flooded when a water main ruptured in their neighborhood on Tuesday.
Juan Martinez took NBC 7 inside their home that day and pointed out where mud and debris seeped onto their property as water spewed from the broken 12-inch asbestos cement pipe. Each of their rooms was flooded.
The break caused a car-swallowing sinkhole to form and forced evacuations. The Martinezes were not living in their home at the time of the fire; they found out with a phone call from a tenant.
"It’s my bed in my bedroom where my baby sleeps and we sleep," Marie Martinez said.
The family shared photos of their scorched property -- their bed destroyed and a layer of soot on their floor and even their newborn's clothing.
The thought of two tragedies in one week left Juan Martinez speechless.
He told NBC 7 it was just the latest in what has been a tough few years for their family; Martinez' mother is going through chemotherapy and his grandmother was recently diagnosed with dementia, he said.
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And, it wasn't the first time water flooded their neighborhood. Marie Martinez shared photos with NBC 7 of muddy waters outside her home on the same block of W. 7th Avenue, just feet from Tuesday's break, on July 22, 2018.
"From last year to this year, I'm like, just fix us. Let us get on," Marie Martinez said.
There was no word from officials on the cause of the fire. The family thinks it was the result of an extension cord shorting out while sitting on a soaked carpet.
Meanwhile, permanent repairs were still being made to the water main break. Crews temporarily fixed the water main to restore service to about two dozen residents.
Chris McKinney, Director of Utilities for the city, told NBC 7 that Tuesday’s water main was impactful enough to move this particular water line up the priority list for replacement.
