Fire levels home near Crump

A double-wide mobile home that caught fire today on Route U near Crump was already past the point of saving when the Whitewater Fire Department arrived on the scene a little before noon Wednesday, the department chief said.

The department received a call around 11:30 a.m. of a home on fire at 4307 Route U. By noon, the house had been reduced to a burning pile of rubble.

No one was home at the time of the fire, said Whitewater fire chief Garry Moore. The home's owner, Mike Brown, arrived at the scene as firefighters worked to put out the fire, but the home was already destroyed. Brown was too upset to comment.

Moore said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire, but the state fire marshal would be called in to help inspect the scene.

Neighbor Jerry Stovall was the first to call authorities about the fire after a motorist passing by stopped at his house and told him about the blaze.

"By the time they saw it, it would have already been too late," Moore said.

The fire could have been burning for some time, Moore said, since the wind direction was carrying the smoke into an unpopulated area away from neighbors on the other side of the house. Moore said the fire had fully engulfed the home when firefighters arrived.

"We had fire out the roof on all four sides," Moore said. All firefighters could do was put out what fire was still burning in the smoldering ruin.

Moore said the scenario is not uncommon with mobile homes. Fire spreads quickly in the structures as air holes are easily opened up in the walls, roof and windows.

"Mobile homes ... once they catch on fire, they can be engulfed and gone in just a few minutes," Moore said.

Members of the Millersville and Gordonville fire departments assisted, with family members of Whitewater firefighters on the scene providing them drinking water.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182