Condemned mobile home burns near downtown Petersburg

A condemned trailer home on Lumber Street near downtown Petersburg caught fire Monday morning.

The blaze was not part of the planned demolition of the structure.

Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Dave Berg said the call came in just after 6 a.m. Monday for a trailer at 11 Lumber Street.

“When we got on scene we found that the trailer had vented,” Berg said. “There was fire coming out the roof and out one side. We got a couple of hose lines on it. It was pretty cold this morning but we were able to knock it down fairly quickly and then went in to mop up.”

The trailer home had been boarded up and was slated for demolition.

Berg said there was no evidence of anyone living there.

Firefighters did find spent fire extinguishers inside the structure.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

In early January the borough assembly voted to give 30-day notice to tear down the structure in Island Trailer Court citing multiple code violations and theft of electricity after service there had been shut off multiple times.

Fire crews stopped the blaze before it destroyed the structure and the borough will still have to do some demolition work.

That work has not yet been scheduled.

Around a dozen volunteer fire fighters responded to Monday’s fire with two trucks and an ambulance.

Speaking of volunteers, Berg wanted to get the word out about training the department is starting up this week.

“Tuesday night this week we start the fire fighter one class,” he said. “That’s at 6 o’clock at the fire hall. It’s open to any one in the community who wants to become a little more knowledgeable about fire fighting and give us a hand up at the fire hall.”

Local volunteers have been recruiting to boost their numbers.

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