South Bay’s tight-knit music community is grieving the loss of Max Zape, a 62-year-old keyboardist who spent roughly five decades holding down stages with dozens of local bands. Zape died after a house fire at his Chula Vista home on Monday morning. Fire crews pulled him and his 96-year-old mother from the smoke-filled residence and rushed them to a nearby hospital. His mother survived. Zape did not. Friends say the local scene has been left reeling.
How the fire unfolded
Chula Vista firefighters were called just before 7 AM to a home on Loma Lane, just north of East Orange Avenue and near Loma Verde Elementary School, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Crews knocked down the flames, then went inside and pulled two occupants from the house……