Suspicious fire destroys trailer in Cd'A
Tom Hasslinger | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years AGO
COEUR d'ALENE - Family members of the owner of a trailer that caught fire this morning suspect the tenant they had to evict set the home ablaze.
The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department responded to structure fire at 3025 Howard St. around 10 a.m., after neighbors reported seeing flames coming from the mobile home, which spread to a nearby tree.
"I go, 'oh my God, it's that trailer," said Patty Mitchell, a neighbor for nearly five years who saw the fire. "It's sad, though, very sad."
Crews extinguished the fire, which destroyed the home, in under an hour. No injuries were reported.
The owner's family members suspect arson.
Adrianna Reeder, who lives next door and is the granddaughter of the trailer's owner, Georgena Drapeau, said the family had been having problems with the trailer's tenant. The family had been letting a woman stay in the trailer as a favor, but had to evict her Tuesday for not paying rent. She had been living in the trailer for about a month.
"Now that she's supposed to be out, it burns to the ground," Reeder said.
Minutes before the fire was spotted, Reeder said the family saw the tenant walking away from the home. She said the tenant then went to a home in the same neighborhood. After police and fire crews arrived, the woman was questioned by officials.
"We told grandma not to let her move in," said Ryan Reeder, Adrianna's husband. "She was trying to help her out."
Coeur d'Alene Deputy Fire Chief Glenn Lauper said no one has been arrested related to the case. An investigation continues.