BY CHRIS FORTUNE AND LUCIE KRISMAN
A fire in Grandview Mobile Park displaced two Eudora residents Monday morning.
Jackie Rinke and her son, Derek Taylor, are uninjured and survived with their two dogs, Maggie and Buddy.
The fire, in lot 44C at 501 E. 10th. St., was the result of improperly discarded ashes from a barbecue grill. It caused a total of $16,500 in smoke damage, Fire Chief Ken Keiter said.
Taylor had used the grill the previous night, and Rinke discarded the coals into a trash can in front of the trailer this morning. About an hour later, the trash can caught fire, which spread to a nearby riding lawnmower. The fire from the lawnmower also spread to a tire that was lying against the foundation of the mobile home.
“I heard a little crackling, but I thought it was the wind,” Rinke said. “A little bit later, I saw what looked like flames dancing around.”
A neighbor called the fire in after spotting the trash can that had caught fire. When the call was made to the fire department, the fire had not reached the home yet. As they were taking the dogs out, the firefighters told them to get out of the home.
“I didn’t even test it, and I know better,” Rinke said. “I didn’t even think twice because I just assumed they were out. I didn’t see anything smoking. I didn’t smell it.”
The fire was called into the Eudora Fire Department at 10:16 a.m. Monday and was declared extinguished by 11 a.m. Most of the damage is centered in the middle of the home. Taylor’s 1948 Chevrolet that he inherited from his father did not catch fire, and most sentimental items and pictures made it out of the fire.
“I live in the backroom so most of my stuff has smoke damage more than anything,” Taylor said. “A couple days at least, we’ll be moving stuff, getting everything squared away and all the trash cleaned up. We’ll go from there and see if it’s even worth me repairing or not.”
Keiter stressed the importance of residents having working smoke alarms inside their homes.
“Working smoke alarms save lives,” Keiter said. “That’s the thing we’ve said for years, and it’s absolutely true.”
Rinke said she and her son will stay at a hotel for the next two nights. They’ve received assistance from the American Red Cross in the meantime, and Rinke is thankful they are alive while they figure out what’s next.
“We’ll get what we can, store it, and we’ll focus on getting a place,” she said. “Then we can start building ourselves back up. That’s all we can do.”
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