One dead, one injured in northeast Fresno mobile home fire

One person is dead and another was injured late Thursday night after two mobile homes caught on fire in northeast Fresno.

The fire happened at 10:56 p.m. at East Sierra Avenue near Blackstone Avenue.

Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Mike Gilbert said fire crews arrived on scene and found two mobile homes fully engulfed in fire. The first engine made its way to the back of the complex and found the two units on fire and worked to keep it from spreading to the adjacent units, including Derrel’s Mini Storage that was located north of the fire.

Fire crews searched the units and found a person dead. The Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office identified the person as Ronald Richardson, 56, of Fresno.

One person escaped the fire and was taken to Community Regional Medical Center for smoke inhalation.

“A lot of work still to do with the collapse of mobile homes,” Gilbert said. “We have to move a lot of debris to make sure we’re able to search both of those units and make sure there are no other victims.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Five engines, two ladder tracks and 28 firefighters were on scene.

It was the second fatal fire in the past week.

Firefighters responded to an early-morning fire at a downtown Fresno motel on April 24.

Firefighters went inside the room and controlled the blaze, but found the body of Griselda Nunez, 63, of Fresno. A man was also injured. Both people apparently were staying in the room.

This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 6:43 AM.