Fresno family forced from home by blaze, where fire crews fought their way past a problem
Seven people were left without housing Saturday afternoon after a fire damaged a Fresno County mobile home, with firefighters adjusting their efforts on the fly after a private hydrant system failed.
Fresno County Fire crews arrived at 3 p.m. at a mobile-home park in the 5000 block of South Chestnut Avenue. They found a fire that was “well established” on the exterior and starting to extend into the main part of the home.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, an official said, but had to overcome an issue with the private fire hydrant system on the property. The top came off the closest hydrant when crews attempted to connect to it; another hydrant and eventually the whole system was found to be out of service.
“We’d ideally always want to use a fire hydrant, especially one that’s in such close proximity to the building,” Fresno County Batallion Chief Ryan Michaels said. “Unfortunately, in today’s situation, the hydrant was damaged. Basically the top half of the hydrant actually came off while firefighters were attempting to open it and charge the line.”
The solution: County water-tender trucks hold 3,000 gallons and two already were headed to the scene.
“(The) fire was small enough that it didn’t impact us,” said Michaels, adding the Fire Department would not be sanctioning the property owner. “If the fire was fueled by winds and threatening other buildings, it could’ve impacted our operations and caused a lot more damage.”
No one was injured in the blaze, said Michaels, adding Red Cross was called to assist the seven people who were displaced by what he said was “significant damage.” Smoke detectors alerted residents.
