What was supposed to be a fun family outing at a Yogi Bear-themed campground before the start of the new school year turned into tragedy for a Bay Area couple in July.

Brentwood residents Eduardo and Amrita Villanueva have filed a lawsuit against Stockton Delta Resort, LLC for failure to properly maintain its Jellystone Park Camp-Resort at Tower Park after their two-year-old daughter Alyanna suffered third degree burns from a fall into a fire pit.

“Every year we keep my sister’s kids for a few days and we try to do something fun,” Amrita Villanueva said. “We chose Jellystone because the kids were starting school early, and we thought this would just be a fun few days to get away, and that it would be fun for the kids.”

The family was having a great time, she said, adding July 24 was their final day at the campground.

After dinner at the resort that night, the children were bathed and headed outside to play for the evening.

Amrita Villanueva was sitting at the picnic table with her niece outside the family’s cabin, and her husband was inside taking a shower.

“My daughter and I were eating powdered donuts as a snack, and she got up,” Amrita Villanueva said. “I started talking to my niece, and within seconds, my nephew called me and said ‘Look!’ And then she was in the firepit.”

Amrita Villanueva pulled her daughter from the fire and said she had trouble pulling the toddler’s jacket off her body.

Eduardo Villanueva emerged from the house and was able to pull the jacket off, while a camper from a neighboring cabin was able to douse her with water to put the flames out.

“The jacket was burnt pretty badly,” Eduardo Villanueva said. “We removed that, and she had a onesie on underneath. The onesie looked okay, but when we lifted it up, her body was burned.”

After removing the onesie to cool the burn areas, Eduardo Villanueva rushed inside the cabin to place his daughter under cool water in the shower.

Alyanna was taken to San Joaquin General Hospital, but doctors there said they could not treat her properly, given the extent of her injuries.

Because she suffered third degree burns on her arms, back, hands and legs, doctors told the family she needed to be treated at a Level 1 trauma center. San Joaquin General is only a Level II trauma center.

Ultimately, Alyanna was transported to Shriner’s Hospital through UC Davis Medical Center for treatment.

Alyanna spent two weeks at Shriner’s, where she underwent a skin graft procedure and must wear a compression shirt for a year to recover.

According to the Villanuevas’ nephews, Alyanna was walking backward and trying to get them to look at something when she fell into the flames.

“(The fire pit is) pretty low to the ground,” she said. “There’s no covering. It’s like a concrete lip. It’s definitely an easy trip hazard. And there was no water source or hose nearby.”

The family filed its lawsuit against Stockton Delta Resort in October, claiming the company failed to comply with fire safety codes; failed to mark, guard or properly illuminate the fire pit and failed to install signage or protective barriers warning of the hazard.

A Jellystone employee told the News-Sentinel to contact management through its website for comment. An email was not returned by deadline Monday.

The Villanuevas said Alyssa is doing fine now, although they plan on taking her to a therapist for possible post traumatic stress disorder.

“She still has her regular, normal spirit,” Amrita Villanueva said. “She’s still playful and happy, except for at night time. She wakes up every two hours screaming and crying.”

The couple said they hope the resort will take precautions to ensure fire pits at all of its campgrounds are safe for youngsters to be around.

“We went there because it looked like a great place for families to stay,” Eduardo Villanueva said. “You don’t expect something like this to happen, and I would not want another child to experience what my daughter went through.”

The family’s attorney, Victoria Gutierrez of Goyette, Ruano & Thompson, said state law requires property owners — including those who own resorts like Jellystone — to ensure visitors are protected from danger at all times.

She added that as the family’s medical and emotional damages are still being evaluated by their treating physicians, specific dollar amount for damages has yet to be determined.

However, Gutierrez said Alyanna’s injuries are catastrophic, and coupled with the severe emotional trauma suffered by all four family members, the damages will be substantial.

“This wasn’t an accident,” she said. “It was a preventable disaster that left a little girl disfigured and a family traumatized when they witnessed the heart-stopping incident. We’re fighting to make sure those responsible are held accountable and to ensure no parent ever faces this horror again.”

Original article posted by Lodi News: https://www.lodinews.com/news/article_3680d0ae-00ed-4752-9085-1ce2b1336d78.html