One of the residents tried to rescue the four cats missing in a mobile home fire on April 6 but was unable to do so and got burned slightly in the effort.
Sumpter Township Fire Chief Rick Brown said the residents of the Holiday West mobile home at 353 Utah Street – two adult females, two adult males, and a child — got out of the home and there were no other injuries.
The four cats are unaccounted for, Chief Brown said.
A resident of the home called 911 at 9:03 a.m. on April 6. Neighbors called as well when they saw the flames.
The mobile home was fully involved when firefighters arrived and mutual aid for a tanker and manpower was called for from Augusta Township. He said there are no fire hydrants in the mobile home park, so water had to be brought in.
Chief Brown said it was a defensive fire. They couldn’t go inside and all they could do was use water from the outside.
He said Detroit Edison had been working in the park on new mobile homes and the Edison crew immediately went to the fire and cut off the power before fire trucks arrived.
One of the residents worked as a disc jockey and stored his amplifier and equipment down the bedroom hallway in a room with the door closed. The residents said they smelled smoke and went down the hall and opened the door and said the room was engulfed with flames.
Chief Brown said there wasn’t anything suspicious about the fire.
He said the residents had no insurance and so he called the Red Cross to offer them assistance.
Fire fighters cleared the scene at 12:04 p.m., Chief Brown said.
Chief Brown said a broken bolt below the ground on a fire hydrant on Willis Road at the mobile home park entrance cut the pressure of the water down some during the fire-fighting, sending some of the water into the ground. It was marked off with yellow tape after the fire until it was fixed on Monday, April 11.
- Previous story Belleville City Council considers duty crew for fire dept.
- Next story Retired BHS teacher dies while scuba diving in Florida on April 6