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A kitchen fire that apparently spread destroyed a travel trailer/mobile home being used as a residence last week just outside city limits at 333 Peres Lane. (Photo by Don Johnson)

Kitchen fire could be cause for destructive travel trailer fire

March 25, 2009
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula TimesA kitchen fire that apparently spread destroyed a travel trailer/mobile home being used as a residence last week just outside city limits. The Santa Paula Fire Department responded to the report of a fire at 333 Peres Lane when the call came in at 9:24 a.m., according to SPFD Captain Jerry Byrum.“It was a family dwelling” that firefighters found upon their arrival to be fully involved in flames. Ventura County Fire Department personnel also arrived on scene and took over the command of the blaze with mutual aid from the SPFD and Ventura City Fire, according to VCFD Public Information Officer Bill Nash, who noted the trailer was 34 feet long.Two people were inside the mobile home, which Byrum said was a “single-wide travel trailer used as a permanent residence,” when the blaze started.Nash said the fire was “extending into a nearby storage area,” and propane tanks “were venting from the heat,” circumstances that hampered the firefight.
Byrum said the cause of the fire seems to be accidental: “The fire spread from the cook top” where food was being prepared “to the curtains and then to the rest of the structure. It looks like a cooking fire that got out of hand,” but the VCFD is still investigating the cause.No one was injured in the blaze, although Byrum said the travel trailer was a “complete loss, which is unfortunate” for the resident.Nash said the Red Cross also responded to the scene to help the one occupant who was displaced by the fire.