Family of nine loses their home in North Fork fire

NORTH FORK, Calif. (KFSN) -- A family of nine is looking for a new place to live after an early morning fire Monday destroyed their home.

The mobile home caught fire around 1 a.m. just outside the mountain community of North Fork. Fire officials say a man, woman, and their seven children lived there.

The next door neighbor, who did not want to be identified, was the first to arrive and offer help after flames began shooting out of the home.

"When I come out here, it was already flaming pretty good," he said. "I think it caught the carpet, and it looked like someone was pouring gas on it. And I tried to get that house to try to kill it. It got too hot for me, so I called 911."

Burnt appliances and charred metal are just about the only items left. The neighbor says the family of nine had been living there for only three or four months before the overnight fire torn through the mobile home and destroyed all of their belongings.

"They just got settled in," he said. "He brought the rest of his tools yesterday, and, look, all burnt, the rest of his tools."

Investigators are still piecing together clues to determine what sparked the fire.

"Because it's a mobile home, it does burn a lot faster which makes it harder to investigate," Cpt. Paul Rotondaro with CAL FIRE said. "So, our investigation takes a little bit longer because we're not able to see the path of the fire travel."

The entire structure is a total loss, but none of the surrounding homes were impacted by the fire

"Nothing suspicious, just something to keep an eye out for neighbors," Rotondaro said. "And getting ready for fire season. Fires can spread real fast. That's why we enforce 100-foot clearance. This could've been real bad had it been a couple months later from now."