fire destroys home

10/04/2005

All Stories From Fort Wayne News Sentinel and Journal Gazette

One person died and a second was injured in a mobile home fire at 9:42 p.m. Tuesday at Edgewood Estates mobile home park, 5330 Goshen Road.

Firefighters from six departments arrived to find the home engulfed in flames, an Allen County Sheriff's Department report said. Washington Township, St. Joe Township, Southwest Fire District, Churubusco Fire, Huntertown Fire and Arcola fire departments were at the scene.

One person inside escaped and was taken to St. Joe Medical Center for treatment, police said. A second person who was unable to leave the home died inside. Names of the two people inside the home at the time of the fire were not released this morning.

Just over a year ago, a mother and her two children died in a mobile home fire at 4613 Pleasant Valley Drive in Dupont Estates. Debra L. Sprau, 23, 3-year-old Skyler and 9-month-old Destiny died in the September 2004 blaze.

Firefighters suspected a faulty cord was the cause, and believe had there been a smoke detector in the home, the deaths could have been prevented.

The National Fire Protection Association estimates 70 percent of all fire deaths occur in structures with no working smoke detectors.

In April 2003, a fire destroyed another Edgewood Estates mobile home. Two maintenance workers found flames coming from the roof. No one was home during that fire.

It’s undetermined whether there was a working smoke detector during Tuesday’s fire.

The cause remains under investigation by the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, Washington Township Fire Department and the Allen County Fire Arson Specialized Team.

 

 

Drug lab found in trailer fire

The Indiana State Police removed a clandestine drug lab Wednesday morning from inside the remains of a mobile home destroyed by fire on Goshen Road.

The fire inside a home at Lot 111 in the Edgewood Estates mobile home park was reported at 9:42 p.m. Tuesday. The heavy blaze killed one person and injured another.

Investigators did not release the deceased victim’s name, and the Allen County Coroner’s Office has not yet ruled on the cause or nature of the death.

Richard Brown, 53, was able to escape from the burning home Tuesday. He was taken to St. Joseph Hospital suffering burns to both arms and cuts to his head, hand and forearms, said Steve Stone, Allen County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Brown, who police believe lived at the home, remained at the hospital in fair condition Wednesday.

Investigators have not determined what caused the fatal fire. No arrests have been made and no charges were pending Wednesday, Stone said.

Although the sheriff's department said the Indiana State Police's Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team is involved in the investigation, police would not say that an exploding methamphetamine laboratory was to blame for the fire. The clandestine lab team cleans up meth labs found in barns, motel rooms and fields across the state and discards of the dangerous chemical waste.

A neon-orange sign stapled to the side of the burned-out home Wednesday afternoon said that the state police had removed a clandestine drug lab and/or hazardous chemicals from the property. The sign also cautioned that hazardous chemicals might remain at the site. Yellow police tape surrounded the property.

A red sign from the county building department declared the premises condemned.

While police continue their investigation, Edgewood Estate residents were left reeling from the death of a neighbor.

Wednesday afternoon, neighbors gathered in small clusters, taking in the almost complete destruction of the white double-wide trailer. The parked van was charred white, its rear door gone. Some of the siding on a neighboring mobile home had melted. The grass and trees around the home were black.

Katrina Piercy couldn’t fathom the idea that a methamphetamine lab was operating in her neighbor’s home. The volatile labs can easily explode, she said. And last night’s fire came dangerously close to her nearby home, she said.

She and Alisha Poland both heard rumors that the lab was in a van parked under the home’s carport, they said.

"There's so many stories you don't know what really happened," Piercy said.