Trailer fire in Jamestown

Jamestown Sun, The (ND)

Feb. 13--Two Jamestown residents are without a home following a fire that destroyed a mobile home on Monday.

Stutsman County Communications Center received the fire call at 1:55 p.m. at trailer 154 at Sunnyside Mobile Manor, 1600 4th Ave. NW. Jamestown Fire Department was on scene at 2:07 p.m.

Jamestown Fire Department had 26 firefighters with five trucks at the blaze, according to Lt. Sheldon Mohr of the Fire Department.

"The fire had a good head start on us and it burned fast," Mohr said. "The firefighters did a good job doing what they were supposed to do."

No firefighters were injured, he said.

The mobile home was a total loss, Mohr said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Some radiant heat damage also melted some siding on a neighbor's trailer, he said.

Daniel Lang said he had lived in the mobile home for 13 years. He said he left the mobile home briefly at around 1:25 p.m. and returned to find his home in flames.

"I can't believe it," Lang said. "I was gone for just 15 minutes."

Lang said he has no idea how the fire started. He said there was a fire extinguisher inside the home but he could not enter because there was so much smoke he couldn't see anything.

"I called 911," he said.

Lang said he had added a deck and spent $6,000 on a new roof a couple of years ago. He had not kept his home insurance up to pay other recent bills that were late, he said.

There were no pets or any other person in the home at the time of the fire, he said.

"I have a pretty large family and hopefully I can figure something out," Lang said. "The Red Cross responded immediately and said they would help me out with anything I needed. That was very comforting."

American Red Cross volunteers Jeff Wolsky and David Collins responded to provide assistance to two people affected by the home fire, said Gretchen Hjelmstad, chief communications officer and marketing director for the American Red Cross -- Dakotas Region.

"The Red Cross provided emergency lodging at a local hotel and also financial assistance to help with their immediate needs such as food, clothing, medications and other essential items that were lost in the fire," Hjelmstad said.

The city engineer's office closed 4th Avenue Northwest to through traffic between 15th Street and 19th Street Northwest for the duration of the fire and cleanup.

The Fire Department cleared the scene at 4:48 p.m. but asked for extra patrols through the evening to watch for possible flare ups from the fire, Mohr said.

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