Mobile home burns a day after being vacated, Stanislaus fire official says

Fire destroyed a newly vacant double-wide mobile home on property north of Woodward Reservoir on Monday evening, according to the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District.

About 6 p.m., crews with Stanislaus Consolidated, the Modesto Fire Department and the Escalon Fire Protection District responded to the report of a fire off Sonora Road at 26 Mile Road. Crews arrived to find the mobile home fully engulfed in fire, said Stanislaus Battalion Chief Kevin Wise.

The home had become vacant just the day before, Wise said, and it was a passerby from Copperopolis who saw the fire and called it in.

Fire investigators spoke with the owner, who does not live on the property, Wise said. Outside the mobile home was a pile of personal belongings, as though the tenants had not yet finished moving, the battalion chief said.

Because the mobile home was fully involved upon firefighters’ arrival, and was destroyed, it’s difficult to tell where the fire originated and what the cause may have been, Wise said. “We put a rough estimate of $30,000 on the damage.”

Five engines, two water tenders and one truck company responded to the fire, Wise said, and crews were on scene about three and a half hours.

The fire remains under investigation, he said.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Mobile home burns a day after being vacated, Stanislaus fire official says."