Investigators release details into two fatal fires at mobile homes

The cause of death for six people who died in two separate mobile home fires in November and December was smoke inhalation, the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office said Friday.

The first fire, on Avenue D in a community south of Modesto known as the Cowan Tract, claimed the life of two children and their grandparents on Nov. 22.

The children Destinee Mendoza, 9, and Izayah Gonzalez, 5, were previously identified by their mother, but she declined to release the names of her parents. After obtaining DNA test results, the Coroner’s Office identified them as Evangelina Medina, 66, and Carlos Topete, 75.

Topete’s body was found by investigators first, nearest the front door in a hallway leading to bedrooms on the north end of the trailer where the children were found, said Lt. Dave Hutchinson, supervisor of the Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit. Medina’s body was found in the kitchen closer to the south end of the trailer.

The fire started in the living room on the south end of the trailer, but due to the extreme damage, which included the roof collapsing, investigators could not determine a cause, Hutchinson said.

Neighbors reported hearing explosions at the home, but it was not an explosion that started the fire; rather, an explosion occurred during the fire when it reached oxygen tanks used by the grandmother and caused the tires on the mobile home to burst.

It’s impossible to know if the children were asleep when the fire broke out, but their mother, Esmeralda Ayala, said she spoke to Destinee and Medina on the phone about 30 minutes prior to the first 911 call. Ayala lives in Salida and the children mostly stayed with their grandparents.

Hutchinson said mobile homes burn especially fast due to the lightweight construction material used to build them, and response times to rural areas like the Cowan Tract are generally longer.

Even more rural was the mobile home that burned Dec. 5 on Ruble Road, about 13 miles south of Modesto. The bodies of the couple who lived there, Miguel and Armida Rodriguez, both 76, were found together by the side of their bed in the southwest corner of the home, Hutchinson said.

The couple, married 56 years, had moved there from Texas about eight months before the fire to be closer to family. Their daughter and son-in-law lived in the main house on the property.

Again, due to the extent of the damage, a cause could not be determined, but the fire originated in the living room where the family said the couple had a space heater.

While a cause could not be determined for either fire, they appear to be accidental, Hutchinson said.

This story was originally published January 14, 2017 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Investigators release details into two fatal fires at mobile homes."