By Lindy J. Gwinn, Mountain Valley News staff
At about 6:10 on Tuesday morning, long before the sun came up, Jeremiah Brooks was up and going about his morning routine in his new home when he looked out and saw their previous home, which he and his wife had on the market, and recently put under a sale contract, engulfed in flames.
The Brooks family bought the doublewide ten years ago, and built a new house on the adjoining property. “We are in still in shock. We had just gotten the house under contract and then this happened. Right now we are just trying to figure out what we need to do,” said Brooks.
Putting a call into the Cedaredge Volunteer Fire Department and waiting for help to arrive was about all Brooks could do as he watched his old home, his largest asset, smolder and burn.
After about two hours, firefighters had the blaze put out, but according to Luke Fedler, Delta County Sheriff's Investigator, the blaze completely destroyed the double-wide mobile home.
Fedler was on scene of the fire that morning, and later returned to the home after the structure cooled to do a more intense investigation.
“We sent the entire department out on this fire,” said Wayne Melson of the CVFD. “Mobiles tend to burn very fast and very hot. This home was empty so the good news is no one was in danger on this fire.”
Melson also said that, they called the investigator from the Sheriff's Office to help determine the cause of the fire. “It is kind of unusual to see a fire in an empty house like this, but not unheard of,” said Melson.
Fedler agreed that although it is more unusual to see an empty house burn, he has discovered no reason to call the fire suspicious. “It looks like the fire started somewhere near the furnace, and there is no reason to think that this was anything other than an accidental fire.
According to Fedler, the home was insured, and he was very glad to find out that no one had been living there when the fire erupted, as the structure is a total loss. “The owners did not have anything inside the house, but the interior and all the remaining appliances were a complete loss,” said Fedler.
At least there was no family that was displaced and no one injured as a result of this fire,” said Fedler.
