VIDEO: A fire engulfed an unoccupied mobile home at Lazy Wheels Mobile Home Park in Ceres early this morning, with firefighters extinguishing the flames and getting it under control in under 30 minutes.
“It is horrible. It’s sad for the residents who had to move. We also saw several animals here. A couple of dogs. A pregnant dog too, as well. I think it’s sad,” said Javier Lopez, mayor of Ceres. Although the cause of the fire has not been determined, officials are considering several possibilities.
“Given that there were no utilities to the building. More than likely, it had to be human cause in some form,” said Andrew Hunter, Modesto Fire Assistant Chief.
The mayor highlighted that this is a recurrent issue with unoccupied mobile parks like this one. “This place has been an issue not only for as long as I’ve been here in the last five years, but previous,” Lopez said.
“Unfortunately, when you get unoccupied residences or pieces of property like this, it’s a prime target for homeless folks to come and set up and get out of the element,” explained Ceres Police Lieutenant Jeff Godfrey.
