FORKS – A man died in a Tuesday-morning fire that engulfed a double-wide, two bedroom mobile home just a few blocks outside the Forks city limit.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Department has not identified the man whose body was found in the trailer owned by Randy Goos, said Randy Mesenbrink, deputy fire chief of Clallam County Fire District No. 1.
The body found in the Zepeda Road trailer could not be identified because of the extent of the burns, Mesenbrink said.
The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the cause of death and the identity of the man, Mesenbrink said.
The department could not be reached for comment.
The fire was reported during a 9-1-1 call from a neighbor at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Two fire engines and a tanker truck arrived within five minutes at the home at 93 Zepeda Road, off Bogachiel Way on the southwest edge of Forks.
But the fire spread quickly, as is common in older mobile homes, said Mesenbrink.
The fire appears to have started in the mobile home’s living room, though a cause has not been determined, Mesenbrink said.
Mobile homes are notorious for turning small fires into big ones quickly, said Mesenbrink.
“When something starts burning inside, it holds a tremendous amount of heat,” Mesenbrink said.
“When a window breaks and it gets air, its ready to rock and roll.”
Mesenbrink said that when he arrived a few minutes after he was dispatched, many of the windows were already broken.
The flames were initially visible on corner of the trailer when Mesenbrink arrived, he said, but the trailer was engulfed in a matter of minutes.
By 9:12 a.m., firefighters had knocked down the blaze and were rummaging through the smoldering house, according to the fire district’s dispatch log.
According to the Clallam County Assessor’s Office, Goos’ mobile home was built in 1971.
The house was built five years before the federal Housing and Urban Development agency began setting minimum standards for fire safety in manufactured homes.
Older manufactured homes tend to become engulfed more quickly than traditional homes because there may not be linings in the wall to retard fire spread, according to a report by the National Fire Protection Association.
