GEM VILLAGE – A mobile home just west of Gem Village was destroyed Wednesday afternoon by a fire of undetermined origin.
Upper Pine Fire Protection District Chief Bruce Evans said no one was in the mobile home when the fire broke out shortly after 5 p.m. No one was injured.
The blaze occurred on a trash-laden plot near the entry to Holman Canyon Road off County Road 223, between Elmore’s Corner and Gem Village, north of U.S. Highway 160.
Initially, one person was reported as unaccounted for, but Evans said the person was later located nearby.
Evans said a woman who initially reported the blaze found the north end of the mobile home on fire, and when she finished her 911 call, the entire trailer was fully engulfed.
The woman who made the initial 911 call declined give her name or to be interviewed by The Durango Herald.
A property owner could not be located, and Evans said he believed the parcel is owned by an out-of-state owner.
The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office declined to release further information, saying the incident is under investigation.
When firefighters arrived, the fire had begun to spread about 15 feet up a nearby hill and another finger of flames was burning in a nearby draw. Wildland firefighters doused hot spots burning in juniper and piñon and established fire lines around the mobile home.
Evans planned to obtain a backhoe to pile the debris, wet it and bury it. Firefighters remained on site to ensure there were no flare-ups Wednesday night.
“We don’t want to put other homes at risk by this jumping into the woods,” Evans said.
A fire investigator was working on the site, but Evans said a cause would not be determined for several weeks.
About 25 firefighters responded, most from the Upper Pine Fire Protection District. One water tender was sent from Los Pinos Fire Protection District and one from Durango Fire Protection District.
Jim Martin, a neighbor, said, “I don’t know who lives there, whether they are vagrants or who they are.”
Also, he did not know who currently owned the plot, but he said about a decade ago it was owned by a Californian.
“It’s awfully junky. It’s been that way for a long time,” he said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
