COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A trailer home west of Coldwater in Branch County’s Batavia Township was destroyed by fire early Sunday. The alarm for the blaze came into Central Dispatch around 2:30 a.m. Nobody was hurt although it was a very close call for a woman who lives next door to the trailer that was leveled by the fire.
Bronson firefighters found the home at 292 Nash Drive engulfed in flames when they reached the scene south of Garfield road near Cadet Road. Bronson Fire Chief Scott Wilber said the elderly man who lived there was awakened by a smoke detector and escaped the structure without serious injury.
However, Wilber said while his department was on the way to the fire, Central Dispatch received a 911 call from the next door neighbor saying she was trapped inside because of the intense smoke and heat with the shudders and skirting beginning to melt and several windows shattered due to the heat from the original blaze.
According to Wilber, another neighbor, identified as Matthew Rurka, forced open a boarded shut back door to the woman’s trailer allowing her to escape. He said quick work by an engine crew from the Coldwater Fire Department which was called for mutual aid, kept the second trailer from breaking out in flames.
The destroyed home sustained a total loss estimated at $10,000 with the contents lost also estimated to be worth $10,000. The damage to the woman’s home is estimated at $5,000. There was no insurance on either trailer.
Both home owners were assisted at the scene by the Branch County Sheriff’s Department Victim Services Unit. Fire crews were on the job for three and a half hours.
