BANNING: One killed, 3 displaced by residential blaze

BANNING – A person died in a residential house fire that also displaced three adults Thursday, Jan. 26. The fire broke out at a home in the 600 block of E. Ramsey Street between Hargrave and Martin Streets in Banning.

Officials have not yet identified the victim killed in the fire, pending notification of the person’s family.

Firefighters from Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire and Morongo Fire Departments responded to the home about 1:10 p.m., after emergency dispatchers received several 911 calls from citizens reporting the blaze.

Twenty-eight firefighters from seven engine companies, and one truck company responded to the blaze, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Public Information Officer Tawny Castro. They were assisted by a breathing support unit.

“The first arriving engine company advised a residential structure well involved in fire,” Castro explained.

Banning police officers assisted with crowd and traffic control while firefighters battled the blaze.

Banning Electric workers were summoned to the location to turn off electricity to the structure, to ensure the safety of firefighters battling the fire.

Firefighters quickly mounted an aggressive attack and had the blaze knocked down in about 30 minutes.

At just before 2 p.m., while firefighters were beginning to overhaul the fire-damaged structure and search for potential victims and hotspots, Castro reported that officials at the scene had located and confirmed the death of a person who had been inside the residence when the fire started.

A Riverside County Reserve Chaplain was summoned to the scene to assist three adults grieving the loss of the victim killed in the fire.

The American Red Cross was also requested for the three who were displaced by the blaze.

A fire investigator responded to the scene to investigate the cause of the fire, which has not yet been determined.

 

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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.