1 Killed In Blaine Mobile Home Fire
BLAINE, Minn. (WCCO) -- Crews are investigating a fatal fire that happened overnight at a mobile home in Blaine.
The fire happened on the 9100 block of Petersburg Street Northeast in the Restwood Terrace mobile home community. Crews responded to a call from a neighbor at about 2 a.m.
"When the initial crew arrived, we made a defensive attack because of the volume of fire," said Bob Fiske, district chief of the Spring Lake Park/Mounds View Fire Department. "Shortly after knocking some of that down, they made entry into a rear bedroom to search. They found nobody there and continued with the fire attack. After they got the fire knocked down, we did find a victim within the home."
One home there was completely gutted by flames, and the heat of the flames melted siding off the sides of neighboring homes.
"I got up and I looked out the window and saw flames over the mobile homes," said Debbie Copeland, who lives three houses down. "I never saw anything like that."
Fire crews requested neighbors across the street to evacuate the scene due to the intensity of the flames. There were concerns the fire would spread.
"The police department showed up knocking on the doors, about five houses down. They asked us to evacuate because there were sparks flying from the neighbor's house," said Loucinda Pearson, who lives across the street. "They said, 'Grab what you can and get out.' We were out of our house from about two o'clock in the morning until 5."
The person who died in the fire has not yet been identified, but neighbors said that the resident of the home that was heavily damaged by the fire was an older man. The victim's identity will not be released by the Anoka County Medical Examiner until notification of next of kin.
Fire crews from Blaine, Spring Lake Park and Mounds View responded to the scene Monday morning.
