Valle Vista: Structure fire at vacant mobile home considered total loss

Trevor Montgomery

Riverside County News Source

On-scene reporting:

Laurie Cain / Hemet News

 

VALLE VISTA – A New Year’s Eve blaze in Valle Vista completely destroyed a vacant mobile home, leaving nothing but the charred framework of the residence. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

At 7:20 p.m., firefighters from CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department responded to multiple reports of a residential structure fire at the 25000 block of Stephvon Way in Valle Vista.

Click image to enlarge map view.

Click image to enlarge map view.

The first arriving engine company reported finding a double wide mobile home that was fully engulfed in flames. According to April Newman, press information officer for the Riverside County Fire Department, 22 firefighters from six different engine companies responded to the fire, which was quickly contained and confined to the sole mobile home. Although some nearby residents were temporarily displaced while firefighters fought the blaze, no other structures were involved.

Hemet News reporter Laurie Cain spoke with several residents of the community following the fire. Numerous neighbors and residents who live in the quiet neighborhood advised the mobile home was vacant but was known to be frequently used by area homeless. Some nearby residents claimed to have contacted code enforcement and law enforcement officials to report that vagrants and other unknown individuals were using the vacant residence to sleep in at night.

Several neighbors also told Cain they had previously reported to code enforcement that the homeless who stayed at the vacant residence were known to light small fires to help themselves stay warm in the evenings. This fact led many neighbors to speculate if that was what might have led to this evening’s fire.

There was little left of the mobile home after firefighters extinguished the New Year's Eve blaze. Photo Credit: April Newman

There was little left of the mobile home after firefighters extinguished the New Year’s Eve blaze. Photo Credit: Laurie Cain – Hemet News

The fire had been extinguished shortly after 8:00 p.m. and within an hour only a few fire personnel remained on scene, to ensure the fire did not rekindle and to clean up the scene.

Although no citizens or fire personnel were reported to have been injured during the fire, the structure burned to the ground and was considered to be a total loss, estimated at approximately $40,000.

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Image showing 25000 block of Stephvon Way, the location of Thursday’s shooting incident.

 

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