A fire gutted two trailers in unincorporated Adams County on Tuesday, leaving about 15 people homeless. The fire may have been started by a barbecue grill between the two homes, fire officials said.
The two homes involved in the blaze, both on Cook Way, are uninhabitable, according to Sandy Danne, North Washington Fire Protection District spokeswoman.
About 15 people, including at least four children under the age of 15, lived in the trailers destroyed in the blaze, said Mary Coonts, a Riverdale Farms Homeowners Association member.
Danne said all of the residents who were home when the fire broke out were able to escape unharmed. She said the American Red Cross is assisting those families and providing them with temporary shelter.
As of Tuesday evening, Danne was unable to provide an official cause of the fire or financial estimates of the fire damage.
Danne said initial 911 calls reporting a structure fire in the Riverdale Farms trailer park were received at 1:56 p.m.
At about the same time, neighbors on Adams Way, behind the two trailers, reported seeing smoke and flames shooting out of the house and into the air.
Riverdale Farms resident Alexandra Massey, who lives about 400 yards away from where the fire occurred, said she and some of her other neighbors called 911 at about 2 p.m. and began alerting other nearby homeowners of the danger.
“There was black smoke just shooting in the air,” Massey said as she and other neighbors stood outside of her home. “We were all standing here, and we could feel the heat. Thank God there was no wind today; otherwise, things here would look a little different.”
Gina Brown, who lives on Adams Way close to the trailers that were damaged, said she and other neighbors were evacuated by Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies at about 2:13 p.m. while fire crews battled the blaze. Jay Sooter, who lives across the street from Brown, said they were allowed back into their homes at about 3:51 p.m.
For several hours, access to Cook Way between East 84th and East 85th avenues was restricted to Thornton Fire Department and North Washington Fire Protection District crews and cordoned off with yellow “Caution” tape. Residents on Cook Way were allowed back into their homes at about 5 p.m. after fire crews fully extinguished the blaze.
Fire investigators concluded their investigation at about 7:15 p.m. and reopened the cordoned-off block to pedestrian and vehicle traffic.