Squatters blamed for mobile-home fire

Investigators say a pair of homeless people are to blame for a fire that destroyed a double-wide mobile home early Wednesday morning.

The fire broke out around 6 a.m. in the 1500 block of South Main Street. The Tulare County Fire Department reports the individuals were routing electricity using extension cords from inside the mobile home to a nearby travel-trailer, where they were reportedly staying without the owner’s permission.

“The folks inside the home that caused the fire didn’t have permission to be there. They were squatting,” said Mike Green, battalion chief with the TCFD.

Green said the owner had warned the pair the evening before that they had to leave.

Firefighters were unable to salvage the approximately 24-foot by 40-foot mobile home when they arrived on scene.

“It was a total loss and the damage was estimated at $10,500 to the home and its contents,” Green said of the building.

One of the occupants of the mobile home had to be treated for smoke inhalation and was taken to Sierra View District Hospital, Green said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, two dogs that were in the mobile home had not been located, Green said.

Seven firefighters, one water tender and four fire engines responded to the incident.