2011 was a bad year for fires in manufactured homes in Prince George.
Over the past year there were seven fires in house trailers in the city, one of which resulted in the death of two city residents. That prompted the Prince George Fire Rescue Services to issue a brochure to warn people who live in that type of housing of safety precautions they need to take.
"Mobile home fires tend to be more fatal than fires in other structures," said Prince George fire chief John Lane.
The arrival of the new year was especially deadly to B.C. residents, with seven fire deaths in in five separate fires from Dec. 29, 2011 to Jan. 2, 2012. Five of those fatalities occurred in three mobile homes or travel trailers.
In Prince George, fire claimed the lives of John Alexander Wiley, 60, and Ronald Adam Dofka, 61, who died May 10, 2011 at a mobile home at College Heights Manufactured Home Park at 6100 O'Grady Road. Although no official cause was determined, the early-morning fire was believed to have started in the kitchen area.
On June 12, fire gutted a house trailer at the Sunrise Valley Mobile Home Park on Lansdowne Road. Nobody was home at the time of the fire. A kitchen fire on July 18 at a mobile home on North Nechako Road left the building in ruins. Two people escaped without injury. In August, the lone occupant of a house trailer on Balsam Road escaped a pre-dawn blaze that ripped through the residence. A suspicious fire in October at mobile home on Farrell Street caused extensive damage.
A fire this year on New Year's Day in an unoccupied manufactured home on Gunn Road resulted in major damage.
"Fires don't necessarily occur more often in a manufactured home but because of the size of the compartment they can be more dangerous in the fact you don't have as much time to get out of the building," said Dennis Perrault, PGFRS's chief fire prevention officer. "Often if there's a secondary means of egress or exit from the building, sometimes it can be blocked off. A lot of them have metal rooves and it's more like an oven in there."
A U.S. study determined the death rate in mobile home fires is substantially higher than fires in other types of housing. In the five years from 2006 to 2010, B.C. had nine fatalities and 16 injuries suffered in 194 fires in manufactured homes. In single-family dwellings over that same five-year period there were two fatalities and 12 injuries in 220 fires.
Manufactured homes made before 1973 often have wood paneling on walls, rather than gypsum wall board, which can potentially add fuel to fires. Perrault said a lot of mobile homes do not have smoke detectors installed, the single most important device for preventing fire deaths. He advises people to make sure smoke detectors are present in all areas of the house trailer and to test the batteries of those devices regularly. He stresses the importance of having an escape route planned in the case of an emergency and for people to practice those escapes.
Use of extension cords is discouraged but if they are necessary make sure they are built to handle the electrical load, especially when they are used to power electrical heaters. Keep space heaters away from combustible material and turn them off before you go to sleep. Never leave cooking unattended.
The brochure was distributed to all mobile home parks in the city last year and is available online at www.princegeorge.ca under the headings -- city services, fire and rescue, prevention.
