Fire in Foothills destroys 3 homes, displaces 12 people

Nine adults and three children have been displaced after a fire destroyed three homes and damaged another in the Foothills Saturday morning, according to officials.

Rural/Metro Fire Department spokeswoman Charlie McMurdie said that firefighters were called on scene around 7 a.m. in the area of 39th Way and Foothills Boulevard.

“The fire kicked out in one residence, in a mobile home,” she explained. “It started in one and it went up very fast and caught the neighbor’s house on fire. When we got on scene we found both of them engulfed. We started fighting the fire and then the wind kicked in and pushed the fire to the a third trailer behind on 39th Way.”

McMurdie said a fourth trailer caught fire but the blaze on that residence was “knocked out pretty quickly” and that the fourth residence received damage to the laundry room.

The three other trailers affected by the fire were completely destroyed, she said.

No injuries were reported as the families got out safely, she added. The blaze

was put out a little after 11 a.m.

The Marine Corps Air Station Fire Department, the Yuma Proving Ground Fire Department and the City of Yuma Fire Department were on scene with Rural Metro to fight the fire.

Additionally, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office was directing traffic and assisting neighbors while firefighters were working to fight the blaze.

According to Tom Batson, disaster program specialist at the Yuma American Red Cross Resource Center, the Salvation Army provided snacks and hydration to the fire agencies that were involved as well as the evacuated families that were “around the surrounding area.”

Batson noted that the American Red Cross coordinated with the Salvation Army to provide the food.

“We will be doing some case work with the families affected by the fire to follow up and help replace missing medicines and anything else they lost in the fire,” Batson said. “We had a nurse volunteer on scene to meet with the families.”

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

PHOTOS BY CRAIG FRY/ SPECIAL TO THE SUN ABOVE: FIREFIGHTERS FROM THE Rural/ Metro Fire Department work to put out a structure fire in the 13100 block of East 39th Way early Saturday morning. RIGHT: Black smoke and flames billow from the blaze as firefighters work to contain it. Three mobile homes were destroyed and another damaged in the fire, displacing nine adults and three children. No injuries were reported, according to Rural/Metro Fire Department spokeswoman Charlie McMurdie. The American Red Cross is working to help the families involved.