A few days ago, a mobile home caught fire, destroying the mobile home and displacing the two occupants. I do not know whether the results of the investigation are known yet, as to what caused the fire. I do not know the statistics, but it seems that more mobile home fires are occurring. I can remember, when I first became a firefighter in Chesterfield County, that it seemed almost like a daily occurrence to run a working trailer fire. Though I really do not know what changed, the number of mobile home fires, through the latter years of my career, seemed to drop.
I am certain that new mobile homes are still being manufactured, but the majority that we see were built in the 1950s-1970s. The layout of most mobile homes is pretty similar. There are two to three bedrooms, with one usually located on the family room end of the trailer. The family room leads to the kitchen, which then leads to a hallway, where the furnace and other bedrooms and a bathroom are located. Depending on renovations, most walls are covered by thin wood paneling. There are usually two entrance doors on each long side of the mobile home.
The causes of fires in mobile homes are the same for all single-family dwellings. Unattended cooking fires are still the leading cause of fires in single-family and multi-family dwellings. Any fire in a mobile home is going to be problematic for it’s occupants. Where in the mobile home a person is when a fire breaks out, will determine their means of egress. In most cases, the fire probably blocks one exit for the occupants. In newer construction, windows may be exit points, but that is usually not the case in older mobile homes. The absolute of this is that there needs to be an adequate number of properly operating smoke alarms in mobile homes. Fires spread faster in mobile homes, whether due to age of structural materials, type of structural materials, or just the layout. The quicker that you can know about a fire in your mobile home, the better the chance that everyone will get out safely. Both exits need a functional set of steps, but the most important thing is that both doors are functional.
If a fire starts in a mobile home, it will spread rapidly. This statement should lead its occupants to understand the importance of a practiced home escape plan. Do you remember the layout that I offered for mobile homes? In some cases, the parent’s bedroom is separated from the children, one end of the mobile home to the other. If the fire starts in the middle, and everyone is asleep in their bedrooms, occupants will exit via different doors. Can everyone open both doors? If not, who will help whom? Again, a practiced home escape plan is the only way to address the issues that a mobile home presents.
Many, many people live in mobile homes in our area. Not only are they vulnerable to fires, but they are also vulnerable when tornadoes crop up. Mobile homes are required to be anchored, but they are no match for even an F0 tornado. When tornadoes are imminent, mobile home occupants need a safe place to which they can evacuate. Thankfully, we do not see many tornadoes in our area, but they do occur.
