GRAVOIS MILLS, Mo. — A single-wide mobile home was destroyed by fire last week, and a firefighter was injured in the search for anyone who might have been inside.
Gravois Fire Protection District Firefighters, GFPD, responded to a 911 emergency call at 9:26 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14 to Lake Road 135, just south of Cup Tree Road, in Gravois Mills.
According to Gravois Fire Protection District Fire Chief Ed Hancock, firefighters arrived on the scene to find a single-wide manufactured home 50 percent involved in fire, with a heavy fire load showing at one end of the structure.
Finding a vehicle parked in the driveway, and no one present to tell them otherwise, firefighters assumed there was an occupant inside the burning home. Following protocol, they attempted to conduct an interior search for a possible occupant.
“I would say the temperature inside of the home was close to 1,000 degrees,” Chief Hancock surmised. The only part of the home still standing at this point was the living room and one bedroom. Due to the intensity of the heat, firefighters were forced to exit the home, but not before GFPD Firefighter Patrick Schwent sustained injury to his ear due to being scorched by flames. “Firefighter protective gear should protect up to 800 degrees,” Chief Hancock said. “You know it was hot when Firefighter Schwent’s ear was scorched through his helmet and hood, with the ear flaps down.”
Thankfully within five minutes, firefighters received confirmation the homeowner was not inside. He had driven a second vehicle to work.
Firefighters made an exterior attack on the fire, knocking it down within 10 minutes. After conducting an overhaul, all personnel cleared the scene at 12:25 p.m.
“The materials used in older manufactured homes burn easier and take longer to overhaul,” Chief Hancock explained. “They also use 2x2’s instead of 2x4’s, lighter compressed materials, less expensive wall coverings and paneling, so they continue to smolder and burn for a longer period of time.”
It was a total loss fire. “They might be able to salvage the wood stove and we found some pictures and paperwork that we were able to carry out safely,” the chief added.
Eight units and eight personnel responded.
Chief Hancock advises homeowners to sleep with their bedroom door closed. “What was remarkable about this fire, is the front bedroom would have been a survivable environment, until the door failed. It would have bought an occupant some time to get out. The fire had been burning for quite some awhile before someone drove past it on the highway and called 911.”
Chief Hancock explained that mobile home fires are similar to a large tin can stuffed with cotton balls that is lit on fire. “They hold all the heat within, and then the heat radiates back on itself, intensifying the fire, usually resulting in a total loss fire.”
“We advise homeowners to close their bedroom door at night. I see this proven almost every week on the Internet, where a bedroom door was closed, and the condition in that room was, or would have been, survivable. When there are working smoke alarms to alert them, they can get out safely. This has happened at the Lake. In cases where there are no smoke alarms and the occupant is asleep, they are usually killed by smoke inhalation, long before the fire gets to them.”
Another problem with manufactured homes, he said, are the old crank-out type windows and the smaller and higher windows that people cannot escape through. “Safety standards have come into play and now they install larger and lower windows,” Hancock explained.
Chief Hancock also advises owners of older manufactured homes to have the electric system inspected. “The older homes were designed with a 60 to 100-amp electric service. As appliances evolved to more higher-powered units, the demand on the electric system increased. These appliances make more of a load. We have seen many systems fail because they just were not designed for that high of a load.”
According to Chief Hancock, the cause of this fire will remain undetermined due to the severity of the damage caused by the fire. “Everything is gone, even the floor.”
