An elderly Laguna Hills couple narrowly escaped death early Monday morning when a sprinkler system in their retirement-home apartment doused a small fire that was sparked when the husband fell asleep smoking a cigarette, fire officials said.
The husband, identified by fire officials as Martin Bursrek, 76, and his wife were rescued by a security guard and were not injured in the 2:30 a.m. fire, which forced a partial evacuation of the seventh floor of the Villa Valencia Retirement Hotel in the 24000 block of Paseo de Valencia, Orange County Fire Department spokesman Will Wright said.
