Fire damages Prince George community, management address lack of fire hydrants
VENN
PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — While neighbors clean up and salvage what's left after a fire destroyed parts of a Prince George mobile home park, community leaders are working to ensure the safety of residents.
Just before midnight on Friday, July 4, flames tore through parts of Bexley Mobile Home Park, killing six pets and leaving six people displaced.
“We had, one fully involved trailer, on arrival with exposure to two other ones. So, we ended up with significant damage. Probably total loss for two trailers," said Chief Pedro Caceres, Prince George Fire & EMS.
This is not the first time neighbors have witnessed this type of devastation. In recent years, Chief Caceres said another fire impacted a family. While the situations were separate there is one thing the two had in common, crews had to use a tanker operations to control the flames, ultimately extinguishing the fire in 15 minutes.
“It could be, just as simple as a big tanker supplying directly to an engine or shuttle operation, or a draft operation from a nearby water source," Caceres said.
Bexley Mobile Home Park fire in Prince George (Photo: Brad Vassar, 8News)
Bexley Mobile Home Park fire in Prince George (Photo: Brad Vassar, 8News)
Bexley Mobile Home Park fire in Prince George (Photo: Brad Vassar, 8News)
After speaking with fire and property leaders, 8News learned the community has gone without working fire hydrants since the privately owned resources were removed. Property management told 8News this is because the rural community operates on well water and there was not enough water being transported to the hydrant to sustain it.
“Unfortunately, a lot a large portion of Prince George's County, is without hydrants," Caceres said.
8News asked property management if there were plans to take a second look at the community's water supply. Leaders confirmed they are working on the matter but did not share specific details.
In the meantime, fire crews say everyone should do their part to keep themselves by making sure they have a working smoke detector.
