A toddler may have saved the life of one occupant of the trailer incinerated following a blaze at Fairbanks mobile home site Tuesday afternoon.
A fire officer hauls burnt material from the trailer home. |
The two-year-old boy woke his teenage mother, causing them to flee the 42-foot home.
A joint report on the cause of the fire is being prepared by the Fire Department and the RCIPS Criminal Investigation Department, according to the RCIP.
Statements were taken from eyewitnesses to the blaze, including the mother of the child, police confirmed.
The blaze may have resulted from an altercation between the occupants of two adjoining trailers on Monday.
The tail end of the disagreement, over towels hanging on a line, was witnessed by police.
According to the trailer’s main occupant Jodie Ebanks, threats were made by another trailer resident who was unofficially cautioned by the police and told to desist the evening before the blaze.
The 18-year-old single parent mother strongly suspects arson to the trailer’s propane tank, stemming from Monday’s heated exchange.
‘I got threats from one of our neighbours on Monday, over three towels of hers on our line, which got on the floor,’ Ms Ebanks said. ‘We didn’t know nothing about the towels.
‘She was arguing with me. She started saying her boyfriend was going to deal with us and show us who was boss ’round here,’ she said.
Ms Ebanks also said that about 20 minutes before taking her nap on Tuesday, she saw her neighbour’s boyfriend cross past her trailer smoking a cigarette, but ‘didn’t pay it no mind.’
She then fell asleep in the main room leaving her child in the company of her best friend and roommate, who later left the trailer to make a quick visit to a trailer across the way.
‘I was sleeping on the living room couch. The bedroom door was half open and my baby slapped my face saying mama, mama and pointing to the bedroom.’
Ms Ebanks said black smoke was pouring out of the room. She then picked up her son, rushed out the front door and ran across the street to another trailer.
Eyewitness account
According to eyewitnesses, Ms Ebanks clutching her son, ran screaming for help from the burning trailer, which she occupied with another female.
Unable to do anything to halt the fire, neighbours ran from the compound and watched from a safe distance as the huge fire melted the trailer and its contents in a few minutes.
Two other trailers on either side of the burning home were also damaged.
Clitey Christian, a tenant who occupies a trailer opposite the family said when she opened her door she saw the big ball of fire.
She saw Ms Ebanks running to the tenants who occupied another trailer.
‘I immediately ran out of the trailer and started banging on doors and screaming ‘fire, fire, get out’.
‘I called 911 and started locking off gas supply from the trailers that were closest to the fire because some of the families that I baby sat were not at home.
‘It was while I was doing this that I heard a great big explosion. Not knowing what it was I also ran from the compound to a safe distance to await the arrival of the fire department.
‘When the fire department arrived, tenants watched in shock as the outside of the trailer melted, she said.
‘Look it nah burn, it melt,’ pointed out one onlooker who, among others, voiced concerns not only about the safety hazard of the trailers, but the friction among families, drug dealing and teenage exploits at the mobile home site.
Huge pot holes filled with water also litter the trailer compound and the entrance.
The Fire Services received the 911 call at approximately 2.40pm on Tuesday and two tankers and a rescue unit were dispatched to the scene.
On arrival it was noted that Ms Ebanks’ trailer home was completely engulfed in flames.
Firefighters soon put out the blaze and disconnected propane tanks, electrical and battery supplies.
Fire Services investigating officer Doorly McLaughlin accessed the damage and cause of fire.
Safety at the site
Temporary Homes Manager, Catherine Tyson, confirmed that the trailers’ fire alarms are subject to monthly checks by the maintenance supervisor, and are fully operational.
She further verified that routine checks are made of the site’s water and electricity supplies, but that no checks were made on the gas situation.
Ms Tyson also confirmed that a risk assessment of the trailers and their energy supplies had been undertaken when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved trailers were purchased from the United States. She added that there had been no problems in that regard to date.
‘The specifications given by the manufacturers were all followed and we’ve had no electrical failures in any of the trailers.’
Following the blaze the occupants, then technically homeless, were referred to Social Services by the Temporary Housing Unit. Ms Ebanks confirms that she and her child are now living with relatives.
No decision has been made as to whether they will be given another trailer home.
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