Why Was Limo Fire on San Mateo Bridge So Deadly?

Few details have emerged to explain what caused a 1999 Lincoln Town Car to go up in flames or why half the occupants, women celebrating the new marriage of 31-year-old Neriza Fojas, could not get out.

Fojas and four friends died in the limo fire. Four other women, three from the East Bay and one from San Jose, survived with injuries. The driver was unharmed.

Video and photos from the incident, which was reported to the CHP at 10:05 p.m. Saturday, show smoke and flames engulfed the rear of the vehicle.

Robert Foucrault, San Mateo County coroner told NBC Bay Area that "three passengers got out the side back door on the driver's side, and one made it out the passenger compartment window successfully – to the driver's compartment."

Orville Brown, the driver of the limo, told the San Francisco Chronicle that when the women first mentioned smoke, just four minutes from their Foster City destination, he thought they wanted to light a cigarette. Seconds later the women screamed for him to pull over. 

Good Samaritans tried to help before the CHP and fire departments arrived from Foster City, Hayward and San Mateo, according to the CHP. But they were unable to free the other five women, who died huddled near a small window, a partition that separates the passengers from the driver's compartment, Foucrault told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Why they could not escape is unclear. The CHP has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Monday, at which more details may become available. Patch will be there.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the number of deaths. Five women died in the fire.