SAN ANTONIO — A former Texas legislator died yesterday when his house went up in flames after a holiday celebration that officials said included a large candle display.Former Democratic state Sen. Frank Madla, 69, and his mother-in-law, Mary Cruz, died in the early morning blaze, family spokeswoman Toni Barcellona said.

Madla served 20 years in the Texas House and another 13 in the Senate. He represented the state’s largest Senate district, which stretches from El Paso to San Antonio and includes two-thirds of the Texas-Mexico border.

Assistant Fire Chief Randy Jenkins said the male victim, later identified as Madla, was burned beyond recognition while trying to get past an air conditioner in a second-floor bedroom window.

Firefighters pulled Cruz; Madla’s wife, Helen; and the Madlas’ five-year-old granddaughter from the house and resuscitated them. Cruz died later at a hospital. Helen Madla and the young girl were in stable condition at an intensive care unit, hospital officials said.

The fire appears to have started accidentally, but investigators haven’t determined if the candles or something else caused the fire, Jenkins said.

“They had a lot of candles — many, many, many, many candles,” fire Capt. Art Villarreal told the San Antonio Express-News. They apparently were part of a holiday party display that took the family an hour to extinguish.

Madla, 69, resigned in May after losing to state Rep. Carlos Uresti in the March primary.

A graduate of St. Mary’s University, Madla was a junior high school teacher before he was elected to the Legislature. During last year’s session, he was chairman of the intergovernmental relations committee and sat on the finance, natural resources and state affairs committees.