The 2-year-old girl who was critically injured in a Richmond house fire on Tuesday night has died, according to Richmond police.
The girl’s mother, 33, remains in critical condition. Also killed at the residence in the 200 block of 15th Street were two other relatives, the girl’s grandfather, 47, and her 5-year-old brother.
According to reports, the deceased man has been identified as Jose Rivera and the two children as Andrew and Joline.
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by the children’s aunt, Evelin Rivera, to help cover the family’s funeral costs.
“My mom and I are heartbroken and overwhelmed trying to process so much loss all at once. We urgently need help with funeral services and burial expenses for my dad, my niece, and my nephew,” Rivera wrote. “I am currently unemployed, and this tragedy has left us struggling to cover these costs while supporting my mom and praying for my older sister as she continues to fight for her life in the hospital. Anything will help, no matter how small.”
As of Friday morning, a bit more than $35,000 has been raised.
Officials said at a press conference Wednesday that they arrested a member of the family who also lived at the home, 32-year-old Sergio Rivera-Vega, on arson and homicide charges. He is the son of Jose Rivera.
Rivera-Vega, 32, was arrested at the scene shortly after officers began investigating the fatal fire, which occurred in the 200 block of 15th Street two doors away from another house fire that was reported about 30 minutes earlier at another residence that was unoccupied at the time.
Police said that detectives identified Rivera-Vega as the person who set the second fire and took him into custody at the scene while he stood just beyond the yellow police tape.
According to a report by NBC Bay Area, Rivera-Vega was recorded on a nearby camera shortly after the fire at the Richmond Eats building nearby, on the corner of 15th and Macdonald Avenue, flipping benches before sitting down next to a telephone pole.
According to authorities, the earlier fire was set by a woman who was arrested Wednesday morning, though police believe that the incidents are unrelated. They did not identify her.
“At this time we firmly believe that these are two isolated incidents,” said Richmond police Lt. Joseph England. “We have no evidence to believe that our (homicide) suspect was involved in the first fire.”
England said that the first fire is “still under investigation” and that authorities do not know what led to it.
Police Chief Timothy Simmons, who spoke at a press conference Tuesday on the steps of city hall, said that authorities immediately considered the second fire suspicious due to its proximity to the first fire.
“It occurred a few houses away from the first fire and began within a short period of time while emergency personnel were still responding to the original fire,” Simmons said, adding that there is no longer any immediate danger to the neighborhood as a whole.
The first fire was reported on 15th Street between Macdonald and Bissell avenues at about 8:16 p.m., according to fire officials. About 30 minutes after firefighters put out that blaze, Richmond fire Chief Aaron Osorio said, they noticed smoke coming from a second home and discovered the four people inside. They were taken to the nearby Kaiser hospital.
Osorio said that the second fire prompted a larger response by multiple agencies including the El Cerrito Fire Department and Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.
Police said that the injuries sustained by the victims who died appeared to be from the fire though the actual cause of death has yet to be determined.
“Rivera-Vega was subsequently booked in the Richmond Police Department jail on two charges of murder and two charges of arson causing great bodily injury,” Simmons said, adding that Rivera-Vega’s bail has been set at $2.5 million.
Rivera-Vega’s name appears in the Contra Costa County inmate locator, but details of his arraignment have not been released.
England told Richmondside on Thursday that he could not provide any information on when charges would be filed but said that Richmond detectives would be meeting with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.
As of Friday morning, Rivera-Vega did not have charges listed in the county’s court record system.
Police responded to an assault call on the block 30 minutes before first fire
According to RPD incident reports reviewed by Richmondside, Richmond police were on the same block just before 7:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the fire reportedly started, for an incident involving an assault with a deadly weapon that is not a firearm and criminal threats.
England declined to answer questions related to prior calls at the location and said that detectives are still investigating any previous contact officers might have had with Rivera-Vega.
The 2-year-old’s death is Richmond’s eighth homicide of 2026, according to RPD crime statistics.
