Fire destroys abandoned Orange City mobile home

An abandoned mobile home fire have nearby neighbors concerned for their safety. One family tells News 6 the condemned trailer park has caused nothing but problems.

"It was very scary. Real bad. That is the first time I've seen it that close," said John Castellanos.

Castellanos and his family has lived near the Oak Hill Trailer Park for three years and said they're fed up with the abandoned trailers.

"I've seen a lot of people coming in and out and a lot of homelessness, using these trailers as for drugs and stuff like that," he said.

On Monday, the Orange City Fire Department said someone started the trailer fire.

"We got on scene and it was 50 percent involved," said Fire Chief Ronnie Long.

Firefighters not only put out the intense flames but knocked down what was left of the scorched trailer. Castellanos also took some pictures of what he said could have easily spread to their home.

"See, everything is kind of close. If this whole thing would have caught on fire, then we would have had a really bad tragedy on our hands," he said.

The burned trailer is one of 25 that fire officials said will soon be demolished.

"The property has been condemned for a couple of years now and we're actually working on getting the demo permit signed," Long said.

But for the Castellanos, they said the demolition can't come soon enough.

"There's a lot of families here, so if they don't do something like quick about this, then it's just going to keep going on until something happens that everybody's going to regret," he said.

Fire Department said the cause is still under investigation. Chief Long said the department is waiting on permits to get finalized and will start demolition within the next two weeks.


About the Author:

Loren Korn is a native Texan who joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2014. She was born and raised in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Journalism.

Recommended Videos