Lancaster Township family homeless after fire destroys mobile home
LANCASTER TWP — Flames quickly tore through a family’s mobile home Tuesday night, leaving little more than burned remains of the double-wide trailer in the 300 block of East Lancaster Road.
Investigators suspect a wood-burning stove may be to blame for the accidental fire that ignited shortly before 6 p.m. One person was home but managed to get out safely.
“It’s a total loss,” said Chief Neal Nanna of the Harmony Volunteer Fire Company.
The Brown family — a father and his two adult children — lived at the home that included several additions around the outside of the structure.
They had no insurance, authorities said.
Firefighters from eight departments in three counties helped to save a workshop in a separate building just several feet from the mobile home.
Crews were called after the elder Brown apparently noticed the smoke and fled the home.
“There was heavy smoke coming out of the building and fire in the roof,” Nanna said.
Nanna said it appeared some kind of problem with the wood burner in the middle of the home started the fire.
Damage was estimated at $35,000 to the structure and another $5,000 to the contents. The family is staying with relatives nearby.