Fire destroys mobile home in Gary
Post-Tribune staff report June 25, 2012 5:46PM
The charred remains of an abandoned Calumet Township mobile home — carpet, wood, tires and other objects — were a left Monday after the structure burned down Sunday night.
Resident Jose Hurtado said his girlfriend and her kids were home around 9 p.m. Sunday — when the fire broke out in the 3800 block of Hendricks Place. Gary and Lake Ridge fire departments responded to the scene and quelled the blaze, though the fire badly damaged an occupied mobile home, located just south of the abandoned home in the Hillcrest Mobile Home Court.
“(People) were blowing up fireworks, and we heard a kind of boom,” said Jesus Pillado. “The roof popped up in the air and we saw smoke.”
His sister, Eliza, said that their mom, Irene, called police because people were taking photos and video of the scene, but no one seemed to be calling for help.
Hurtado said his girlfriend had experienced a fire as a child, so it definitely spooked her. Hurtado said by the time he got home Sunday night — around 11 p.m. — the fire was out.
He said that the occupants of the damaged trailer are staying elsewhere, but they did stop by to pick up their stove and other items so they wouldn’t be stolen by scrappers.
