Photo by Kevin DenkeBrighton Fire Marshal Kris Krengel investigates what caused a mobile home fire Thursday that left a family homeless.
Kevin Denke
MetroWest Editor
BRIGHTON — A family was left homeless Thursday morning after a fire gutted their mobile home.
The fire happened shortly after 8 a.m. at the Sylmar Manor Mobile Home Park at the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 85 and Weld County Road 2.
Three young children and at least one adult were able to escape from the home and were not injured. Red Cross officials said they were assisting one adult and eight children displaced by the fire with temporary shelter and supplies.
Israel Ontiveros, a relative of the family, said he helped guide the children out of the mobile home and that the family’s other children were not home at the time because they were in school.
Ontiveros said he believed the fire started near the mobile home’s water heater. Greater Brighton Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Kris Krengel said the investigation center on the area around the water heater and that he believed it to be the “point of origin.”
While Krengel said he believed the fire to be accidental. He said he was interested in how a exterior door to the water heater closet became detached from the mobile home and whether debris entered through that opening and possibly sparked the fire.
Krengel also confirmed that a large propane tank had been connected to the home’s water heater.
Sylmar Manor property manager Jim Williams said the family had its utilities turned off and was using propane as an energy source. But he said he did not know that until firefighters began fighting the fire Thursday.
Williams said, with knowledge that there was a large amount of flammable propane nearby, he was relieved that no one was injured and no other mobile home damaged.
Krengel echoed that, indicating it could have been a “nightmare.” He credited firefighters with how they quickly suppressed the fire.
“These guys did one heck of a job with what they did here,” Krengel said.
They worked so quickly Williams said the trailer is actually salvageable. But, more than likely, he said he would replace it with a newer home because of the smoke damage.
“Anytime (the smoke) gets up into the roof and travels through, it’s no good,” he said.
The investigation into the fire is continuing.
