Candle Ignites Bedroom Fire in Glenview

Glenview: On Tuesday, January 18th 2010 at 1:38 PM, the Lakeside Fire District received a report of a fire in a mobile home in the 13400 block of Highway 8 Business. Five structural engines, one truck company, an ALS ambulance, and battalion chief were dispatched to the incident.

En-route crews were advised that the occupant had knocked over a candle and it had ignited combustibles in the room. But on arrival crews had very little evidence of a fire from the exterior. Battalion Chief Laff assumed command of the fire while crews from station #3 (Lake Jennings Station) made entry. Upon entering the interior crews found a smoking interior door with a very hot door knob.

Upon opening the door crews were met with a well involved bedroom fire. Crews were able to rapidly knock down the fire, but due to zero visibility crews needed additional help to conduct an interior search for victims. Additional personnel from Lakeside, El Cajon, and CalFire were assigned to the interior to look for victims. Fortunately no victims, or domestic animals, were located.

Fire damage was held to the one room, but extensive smoke damage made the occupancy uninhabitable.

Damage to the coach will probably exceed $20,000. A total of 12 personnel from Lakeside responded to the fire. Crews were assisted by crews from El Cajon Fire (E8-Madison Station), and CalFire (3382-Flinn Springs Station).

Submitted By: Captain Mark Grow, Lakeside Fire District
Photos By: Fire Engineer Carl Chiodo, Lakeside Fire District