This story has been updated with additional information.
A Monday night fire engulfed a Mendenhall Valley trailer home that has been unoccupied for some time, according to Capital City Fire/Rescue. On Tuesday, CCFR Fire Chief Rich Etheridge said the trailer was deemed a total loss.
“The fire started out in the entryway and with the heavy winds, that blew the fire in through the entryway, and through the kitchen windows,” he said. “It pretty much turned the trailer into a blowtorch.”
He said the fire is being investigated as unintentional and it could be electrical, but it is difficult to determine at this time.
Gerald Mayeda, in a text message interview with the Empire, stated his daughter spotted the fire and called 911, while he and others tried to get anybody inside the trailer and nearby homes out quickly because winds were causing the fire to spread.
“I knocked on the door (and) yelled,” he wrote. “Some young adults helped me alert the neighbors.”
The fire didn’t reach other structures before it was contained, but “it was very close to other units,” Mayeda wrote.
The fire to the residence at the Sprucewood Park mobile home neighborhood was reported by CCFR on its Facebook page at about 8:10 p.m. At approximately 9:10 p.m., the interior fire was completely knocked out, and CCFR was putting out hot spots on the trailer’s roof.
At approximately 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, the strong wind fanned embers inside the trailer, causing a flare-up. The response to the flare-up took about four to six minutes after the call came in, according to Etheridge.
“It got the part of the trailer that wasn’t completely gone finished,” he said.
Sam Russell, CCFR’s assistant chief of administration, said the department received a neighbor’s report that the trailer had been unoccupied. He said CCFR conducted a thorough search and did not locate anyone inside the trailer. On Tuesday afternoon, Etheridge confirmed that the trailer was being remodeled to sell and there was no property inside.
It is the second serious fire in three days to a Mendenhall Valley home. A fire at a home on Aspen Avenue early Saturday morning killed one person and seriously burned one of three other occupants who managed to escape.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356. Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
A firefighter rolls up a hose in the rain after completing a fire response at Sprucewood Park. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
