An electrical fire severely damaged a mobile home on Barnes Lane
Wednesday, but the quick action of a 12-year-old girl prevented any
injuries and saved the structure from even worse damage.
Hollister – An electrical fire severely damaged a mobile home on Barnes Lane Wednesday, but the quick action of a 12-year-old girl prevented any injuries and saved the structure from even worse damage.
“I really commend this girl’s actions,” said county Fire Marshall Jim Dellamonica. “She got her family out of the house quickly and probably saved some lives. We couldn’t have trained her any better ourselves.”
The fire was caused by a lamp plugged into an outlet behind a dresser. The dresser pushed up against the wall each time a drawer was opened or shut, it disturbed the plug. When the lamp was turned on Wednesday afternoon, a spark from the faulty plug ignited a fire behind the dresser. Dellamonica believes the clothes in the dresser helped the fire spread quickly.
“Most people initially try to put out the fire themselves and get burned,” said Dellamonica. “Fortunately the girl knew not to touch it. She played it by the book.”
The girl first made sure to get her wheelchair-bound little sister and mother out of the house and to safety, and then called 911. County fire received the call at 4:16pm and sent out two engines, with the city fire department sending an engine as well. The fire was under control in less than half an hour and was out by 5:30 pm. The last fire engines were sent home at 9:00 pm.
“The fire entirely consumed the back of the structure, where an addition had been built,” said Dellamonica. “The girl’s bedroom and a day room were destroyed, and the kitchen was also severely damaged.”
According to Laura Kershner, spokeswoman for the Monterey-San Benito Counties chapter of the American Red Cross, the Red Cross is providing the family with food and clothing, while the landlord of the complex is setting them up in another mobile unit. The Red Cross will be checking in with the family in the near future to determine how to help further.
According to Dellamonica, since 2000 mobile homes have been required to be built to code – and older units may not be as safe as owners think. The presence of a lot of aluminum and PVC pipe, as well as small windows that pose exit problems, all constitute potential fire hazards in mobile homes.
While the unit on Barnes Lane was an older model, Dellamonica believed the additions built on to the mobile home made it safer for the family and had little to do with the severity of the fire.
“Really it just comes down to common sense,” he said. “If a smart person knows what they’re doing and is careful, he could probably live in a 1920’s mobile home his whole life and never have a problem. Other people could easily burn down a brand new structure.”
