One person died and another was hospitalized after a mobile home caught fire in Fullerton Tuesday morning, Jan. 20, authorities said.
Fullerton firefighters responded to the complex at 1850 W. Orangethorpe Ave. around 5 a.m. and found one mobile home on fire, Deputy Chief Jon Fugitt told OC Hawk, a freelance news organization that sometimes works with the Southern California News Group.
“(Firefighters) quickly … deployed hose lines and extinguished the fire and protected the exposures around the involved unit,” Fugitt said.
After dousing the flames, one person was found dead within the mobile home while another was taken to a hospital, Fugitt said. That person’s condition was unknown.
Mauricio Escobar, who lives next to the mobile home that burned, told OC Hawk that he awoke to seeing “the red, the color of the flames through my window.”
He ran outside with a hose to spray water on the fire while also putting water on his roof and side wall.
“Everything was already in flames,” Escobar said. “I aimed the hose to their window because the flames were already big.”
Police officers arrived soon after, took the hose and began spraying the house while telling Escobar to clear the area, he said.
As of mid-morning, he was not sure if the fire had damaged his unit.
Escobar said two men live in the mobile home and that one initially came out, then went back in for his roommate, “but the smoke was too heavy already, and he couldn’t get him.”
The Fullerton Fire Department received help from Orange County and Anaheim firefighters, Fugitt said.
The cause and origin of the fire was under investigation.