Mobile Home Destroyed by Fire Started by Space Heater

SAN ANGELO, TX - This morning, at approximately 2:25 a.m., the San Angelo Fire Department responded to a fire in the 700 block of Jones St. The residence, a mobile home, was fully engulfed in flames, and firefighters went on the defensive to try to save the home. By 3 a.m., they had the blaze under control. 

At about 3:35 a.m., firefighters began overhaul. Fire Marshal Ross Coleman responded to the fire at 3:20, and American Red Cross showed up on scene.

Coleman said the fire started because of close proximity of combustible items to a space heater. He said he wasn't sure how many people resided at the residence overall.

"There looked to be a shed used as a bedroom outside," he said. "There was a person in there; and there was one person inside the mobile home."

The individual inside the mobile home got out in time after the blaze began. 

Coleman explained that the shed sustained damage, but the mobile home, approximately 8 x 50 with metal exterior and wood supports and subdivided into rooms, is a total loss. The fire originated in the middle of the structure.

"I could not determine if there was any smoke detection in it," Coleman said.

Additionally, there was a third structure in the neighbor's yard, a small storage building, that received heat damage.

Because the residence of the way mobile homes are built, Coleman said fires tend to catch on quickly and spread faster.