"Stop the car! Stop the car!" 
 
 With smoke billowing from the limousine floor, Nelia Arrellano banged on the partition separating the driver and eight of her girlfriends heading over the San Mateo Bridge on their way to celebrate Neriza Fojas's recent marriage. The night would end in a fiery tragedy so horrific that Arrellano could barely speak through agonizing sobs Monday as she recounted Saturday night's final minutes of terror. 
 
 "There's smoke, and the fire coming out!" 
 
 Michael Keefe, Fire Chief of the Foster City Fire Department , John Mapes, Foster City Fire Department Investigator and Robert Foucrault, San Mateo Coroner, attend a press conference to discuss last Saturday's deadly limousine fire at the CHP Headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. on Monday, May 6, 2013. (Gary Reyes) 
 
 But the music was blaring in the 1999 Lincoln Town Car stretch limousine that was outfitted with trays full of ice for a night of partying and luxury among these longtime friends who were as close as sisters, all of them Filipinas in their 30s and 40s, most working as nurses in the East Bay and Fresno. Driver Orville "Ricky" Brown thought Arrellano was asking if she could smoke a cigarette in the limo. He checked his GPS. Only four minutes until they arrived at their destination: the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City. 
 
 "We'll be there soon," he told her. 
 
 They never made it. In an interview Monday with ABC7 news, Arrellano, 36, sat on the living room couch of her home in Oakland, clutching a wad of tissues, choking on words and wiping away a stream of tears as she tried to explain the last moments of the ride that ended in an inferno, the back third of the limo melted into gray ash. Arrellano was the first to escape, squeezing through the partition to the front seat. "I bring out my head through the compartment and say, 'help me,'" she said. 
 
 The bodies of the bride and four other friends, who had dressed up in elegant evening attire to celebrate, were found huddled next to the window partition that had been the escape route for Arrellano and three others who had barely squeezed through in time. At a news conference Monday, authorities said the limousine had one person over the state limit of eight passengers, but they said it was still far from clear what caused the fire. 
 
 "In the 21 years I've been with the office -- all deaths are horrific -- but this is just very impactful," San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said. "And it's probably the worst one I have ever seen." 
 
 Mike Maskarich, Commander Redwood City, CHP, Michael Keefe, Chief, Foster City Fire Department and John Mapes, Foster City Fire Department Investigator attend a press conference to discuss last Saturday's deadly limousine fire at the CHP Headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. on Monday, May 6, 2013. (Gary Reyes) 
 
 Images of a roiling fire engulfing the back of the limo spread across the country Monday and drew national media to the victims' homes in the East Bay and to the nursing facilities and hospitals as far away as Fresno, where most of the women had worked. At one point Monday, the limo driver climbed into a limousine and was whisked away to appear live on CNN. In an earlier interview with this newspaper, Brown detailed the terror of those few minutes. 
 
 When he finally understood the panic behind him -- as much as a minute-and-a-half after Arrellano first called out "smoke" -- he pulled to the side of the bridge. By that time, flames were shooting through the passenger compartment. 
 
 "It happened fast, it was engulfed so fast,'' said Brown, who escaped without getting hurt. "It burned and burned, burned and burned." 
 
 Brown said that when he got out of the car, he fumbled with his phone, so panicked that it took him "five minutes" to dial 911. 
 
 "I'm trying to call 911 on my phone, and I'm shaking, it wouldn't dial," he said. 
 
 He said he was terrified and wished he could have done more. On Monday, Arrellano wondered the same. 
 
 "When he stop the car, he get out from the car," she told ABC7. "He just get out from the car.'' 
 
 As she desperately wiggled through the partition window, she said, she called out for him. 
 
 "He just open the door, that's all he did," she said, "I even ask him, 'help me, help me.'" 
 
 As flames built in the back, another friend made it through right behind her, but a third began struggling. 
 
 "I heard somebody yelling, 'I'm stuck,'" said Arrellano, with a visible cut under her eye Monday. "And I tried to pull her out.'' 
 
 Brown said he also helped pull the woman through. 
 
 It's unclear why the women couldn't open the passenger doors at the rear of the limo. Perhaps the flames blocked them. Police wouldn't speculate during a news conference Monday morning. 
 
 Another motorist who stopped to help pulled open the back door to free the women still trapped inside, but was met with a whoosh of flames. 
 
 "There were flames everywhere," Brown said. "It was too late." 
 
 The last thing Arrellano did, she said, was pull her friend Jasmin Deguia of San Jose through the partition. When she turned to help the others, the car was dark with smoke. 
 
 A motorist who had pulled over stopped her. "You can't go back anymore," he said. 
 
 "I say, 'I need to go back. I need to go back and save them!'" Arrellano told ABC7. "But the man say, 'no, you cannot go back anymore.'" 
 
 It was too late. 
 
 "I wish I could pull all of them out," she said, sobbing. 
 
 A video recorded by a passerby shows the back of the limo in flames and a few women perhaps 15 yards away crouched alongside the bridge railing. The four women who survived were recovering Monday; including Deguia, 34, of San Jose, Mary Grace Guardiano and Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro. Deguia and Loyola were upgraded to serious condition Monday at Valley Medical Center. 
 
 Many of the women either work or have worked for Fruitvale Healthcare Center in Oakland, a spokeswoman for the center said Monday. While the coroner has yet to identify any of the dead, a Fresno hospital where two of them worked said the tragedy claimed two of their nurses. The bride, Fojas, 31, and another friend, Michelle Estrera, both worked as trauma and surgical nurses at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. Both were killed in the fire, according to a statement from the hospital. Fojas had recently wed and was planning to travel to her native Philippines to hold another ceremony. 
 
 "Both were good friends, stellar nurses and excellent mentors," hospital officials said. 
 
 The owner of Limo Stop, San Jose resident Kultar Singh, expressed condolences for the victims and their families. "We are saddened by this horrific event that took the lives of five people, and it happened in one of our cars," he said. 
 
 Brown of San Jose started with the limousine company two months ago, after several years as a commercial shuttle driver. A check of DMV records shows no violations on his driving record. 
 
 He speculated the limo had an electrical problem, but he didn't know for sure. 
 
 "There are lots of things in limousines that are flammable, from the extra foam to the extra vinyl, wood paneling, all the lighting systems," Brown said. 
 
 On Monday, interview after interview, he shook his head and expressed his grief and sorrow, promising to donate his next paychecks to help the women and their families. 
 
 "I wonder why the five of us were able to escape but the other ones didn't," Brown said. "I've been asking those questions since it happened." 
 
 Staff writers Joshua Melvin and Mark Gomez contributed to this report. 
 
 Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga. ||||| First came the tapping. Over the blasting music, limo driver Orville Brown heard someone in the backseat knock on the partition behind him, saying something about smoke. No smoking allowed, he told the crowd of partying women. 
 
 California Highway Patrolmen light flares as they investigate the scene of a limousine fire that killed five passengers on the westbound side of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in Foster City, Calif., Saturday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Foster City Fire Department Chief Michael Keefe, right, speaks next to Redwood City California Highway Patrol Commander Mike Maskarich at a news conference at the California Highway Patrol headquarters... (Associated Press) 
 
 This frame grab taken from video provided by Roxana and Carlos Guzman shows a Limo on fire Saturday, May 4, 2013, on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in San Francisco. Five dead female bodies were found pressed... (Associated Press) 
 
 San Mateo County firefighters and California Highway Patrol investigate the scene of a limousine fire that killed five passengers on the westbound side of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in Foster City,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Foster City Fire Department Chief Michael Keefe, left, and Foster City Fire Investigator John Mapes listen to speakers at a news conference at the California Highway Patrol headquarters in Redwood City,... (Associated Press) 
 
 San Mateo County coroner Robert Foucrault speaks at a news conference at the California Highway Patrol headquarters in Redwood City, Calif., Monday, May 6, 2013. Investigators are trying to determine... (Associated Press) 
 
 San Mateo County firefighters and California Highway Patrol personnel investigate the scene of a limousine fire that killed five passengers on the westbound side of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in Foster... (Associated Press) 
 
 Then the taps turned to urgent knocks, and someone screamed "Smoke, smoke" and "Pull over!" 
 
 In just a few fleeting moments, five of the women celebrating a girls' night out were killed by flames that overtook the luxury car with terrifying speed. 
 
 As smoke thickened in the passenger compartment, Brown pulled the white stretch limo to a stop on a bridge over San Francisco Bay and started pulling women out through the partition that separated him from his passengers. 
 
 Three good Samaritans, including a firefighter, stopped to help. The first woman who got out ran to the back and yanked open a door, but Brown said it was already too late. 
 
 "I knew it wasn't a good scene. I figured with all that fire that they were gone, man," Brown said. "There were just so many flames. Within maybe 90 seconds, the car was fully engulfed." 
 
 From the first tap on the window until the rear of car became an inferno couldn't have taken more than three minutes, Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. 
 
 Authorities searched for answers Monday, hoping to learn what sparked the blaze and why five of the victims could not escape the fast-spreading flames. 
 
 The women who were killed in the Saturday night blaze were found pressed up against the 3-foot by 1 1/2-foot partition, apparently because smoke and fire kept them from the rear exits of the extended passenger compartment. 
 
 The position of the bodies suggested they were trying to get away from the fire, said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault. 
 
 The women were celebrating the wedding of a newlywed friend, Neriza Fojas, who was among the dead. 
 
 Fojas and another of the fatalities, Michelle Estrera, were nurses at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. The remaining three victims have not been identified. 
 
 The medical center's CEO, Jack Chubb, said in a statement Monday that Fojas and Estrera were outstanding nurses, loved by their patients, colleagues and staff. 
 
 "Both were good friends, stellar nurses and excellent mentors who served as preceptors to new nurses," he said. "We'll dearly miss these two special people who have touched our lives." 
 
 A relative of Fojas said the young nurse was preparing to get her master's degree and was planning a large second wedding in the Philippines. 
 
 Christina Kitts said Monday that Fojas lived in Hawaii while she reviewed for her nursing exam, then took a job in Oakland for two years before moving to Fresno, where she had been a nurse at Community Regional Medical Center for a year. 
 
 Three survivors hospitalized were identified as Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose; Mary Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; and Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro. 
 
 Nelia Arellano, 36, of Oakland, who was treated and released, told KGO-TV about the terrifying events. 
 
 With a cut visible on her face, an emotional Arellano said she yelled at the driver to stop the car, but he "didn't want to listen." 
 
 When Brown did finally stop, Arellano says he did nothing to help the women get out of the burning car after he exited. 
 
 Brown told KGO that at first he misunderstood what one of the passengers was saying when she knocked on the partition and talked about smoke. And when the panicked woman knocked a second time and yelled at him to stop, he said he pulled over and all four survivors escaped through the partition. But he said the passenger compartment was quickly engulfed in flames. 
 
 "It spread so fast," he said. 
 
 Brown said he believed it was an electrical fire. "It could have been smoldering for days," he said, noting there was no explosive boom. 
 
 California Highway Patrol Commander Mike Maskarich said the state Public Utilities Commission had authorized the vehicle to carry eight or fewer passengers, but it had nine on the night of the deadly fire. Maskarich said it was too early in the investigation to say whether overcrowding may have been a factor in the deaths. 
 
 Commission spokesman Terrie Prosper said Monday that the agency was looking into whether the operator of the limo, a company called Limo Stop, willfully misrepresented the seating capacity to the agency. If so, Limo Stop could be penalized $7,500 for each day it was in violation. 
 
 Limo Stop is licensed and has shown evidence of liability insurance, Prosper said. The company has seven vehicles with a seating capacity of up to eight passengers listed with the commission, and it hasn't been the target of any previous enforcement action. 
 
 The CPUC requires that all carriers have a preventive maintenance program and maintain a daily vehicle inspection report, Prosper said. Carriers also certify that they are have or are enrolled in a safety education and training program, she said. 
 
 Prosper said requirements for emergency exits only apply to buses, and limousines are not required to have fire extinguishers. 
 
 Joan Claybrook, the top federal auto-safety regulator under President Jimmy Carter, said the stretch limousine industry is poorly regulated because the main agency that oversees car safety doesn't have enough money to prioritize investigating the small businesses that modify limos after they leave the assembly line. 
 
 "I think the oversight is pretty lousy, because the modifications are so individualistic, and there are not that many companies out there that do this. Mostly, they are mom-and-pop operations," said Claybrook, a former administrator at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who previously led consumer group Public Citizen. 
 
 Instead, the agency tends to focus more on problems with new cars and major recalls, she said. 
 
 U.S. Department of Transportation data shows five people died in three separate stretch limo accidents in 2010, and 21 people died in another three stretch limo accidents in 2011. 
 
 Stretch limos are typically built in two ways. 
 
 In the first process, one carmaker builds the limousine's body, then another company customizes or stretches the vehicle. The second company has to issue a certification that the car meets National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety standards for new vehicles, and that all safety equipment is working as required before it can be sold to the public, said Henry Jasny, an attorney with the Washington-based nonprofit Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. 
 
 In the second process, a customer buys the limousine directly from the carmaker, then takes it to be customized. But modifying the car after it has been sold is considered a retrofit, so is not something NHTSA would regulate, Jasny said. 
 
 Many older models such as the 1999 Lincoln Town Car that caught fire Saturday were modified after they left the factory, said Jerry Jacobs, who owns a boutique limousine company in in San Rafael with a fleet that includes two stretch limos. 
 
 "There is nothing wrong with having these older models on the road. Many have low mileage and immaculate interiors because we take care of them. But when these cars start getting older and the rubber boots wear out, they start running hot," Jacobs said. "The key is you have to keep doing all the right maintenance to make sure they're running smoothly." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco contributed to this report.
– One of the surviving passengers from the limo fire that killed five women disputes driver Orville Brown's version of events and says he could have done more to help. Gloria Arrellano says she was the first to crawl through the partition after Brown stopped the limo on the San Mateo Bridge. "When he stop the car, he get out from the car, he just get out from the car," she said. "When he get out from that car, he just opened the door, that's all he did. I even ask him, 'Help me, help me,' because I bring out my head from that compartment and say help me, so I could squeeze myself over there and slide myself," she tells ABC7. Arrellano says that after she escaped, she ran back to the vehicle and managed to pull one more friend to safety. After that, "I tried to check if I can pull out one more, but it's already too dark and I can't see anything anymore," she says. Authorities are still investigating how the fire erupted and why the women were unable to escape out the rear doors. Brown speculates that it may have been an electrical problem, reports the San Jose Mercury News. "There are lots of things in limousines that are flammable, from the extra foam to the extra vinyl, wood paneling, all the lighting systems," he says. Officials say the limo had one more passenger than the eight it was authorized to carry, but it's too early to tell whether overcrowding was a factor, the AP notes.