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Sunnyvale man dies in fire

A small explosion and fire at 1535 Quail Ave. occurred Thursday morning, killing one person.

Phong Lam, 28, died after suffering third-degree burns over 99 percent of his body, according Valley Medical Center officials.

Although the fire was still under investigation at press time, Sunnyvale fire official Karen Miller said that Lam doused himself with an unknown flammable liquid and caught fire.

Damage caused by the fire was confined to Lam's room and included a blown-out window and smoke damage to the upstairs portion of the house.

Miller said Ronald Palmer, 56, and his son, Tuan, 24, were in the downstairs part of their house at 9:20 a.m. when they heard an explosion upstairs.

They ran up and found that it had come from a bedroom used by Lam, Ronald Palmer's brother-in-law, Miller said.

The Palmers had to break into the room that was locked from the inside, but the fire made it too hot to enter.

They ran outside, and put a ladder up to the broken window and sprayed water from a garden hose to put out some of the flames.

The Palmer family declined a request for an interview last week.

Twenty-two firefighters and five engines responded to the call. Lam was promptly taken to Valley Medical Center, where he died at 3 p.m. Friday.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 25, 1998.
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