By Derek Kravitz
Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska)
Copyright 2006 The Omaha World-Herald Company
Officials have begun inspecting some 1,500 mobile homes in Madison County after a fire Monday killed five people in Norfolk.
Madison County Attorney Joe Smith said officials from city, county and state agencies, including the State Fire Marshal’s Office, began the inspections Wednesday. They looked at a handful of mobile homes at an unlicensed site on North First Street in Norfolk.
Details about what specifically would be examined and whether the inspections would be mandatory were still being discussed Wednesday.
The fire early Monday killed five members of a family at the Owens Mobile Home Court near the Sunset Plaza Mall.
Killed were Alma Ybarra, 39, and her children Rocio Ozuna, 21, Jose Jimenez, 10, Jackie Jimenez, 6, and Eric Jimenez, 2. The father of the family, Jose Jimenez, 36, was in critical condition Wednesday at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln.
“This case brings to mind safety and other issues related to trailer parks,” Smith said. “Everybody’s committed to getting this looked at.”
Norfolk Fire Chief Shane Weidner said the Ybarra-Jimenez home had been “livable” but in “a condition you would expect from a mobile home built in 1972.”
“From looking at the other neighbors’ homes that are similar in age, you can tell they were not in peak operating condition,” Weidner said.
Jimenez and Ybarra purchased the home for $6,000 in August 2005, according to county records.
Calls to the two owners of the Owens Mobile Home Court, Sherry A. Raymond and Judy Bernstrauch, were not returned.
Neighbors said that while the home that burned was well maintained, it was much older than most neighboring homes. Residents say that in recent years Raymond has been trying to replace older, deteriorating mobile homes with newer trailers manufactured in the 1990s or later.
The very design and materials of the mobile home contributed to the blaze’s lethality, Norfolk City Fire Marshal Terry Zwiebel said.
“The way the structure is built, with a metal roof and metal sides, it’s just like an oven,” Zwiebel said.
The Owens Mobile Home Court has had minor property maintenance issues, Weidner said, but formal inspections are performed only when a complaint is filed.
No violations had been reported at the Ybarra-Jimenez home, said John Kouba, a health official with the Norfolk Fire Division.
Fire officials said the home’s “significant age” and condition would largely go unnoticed unless a complaint was filed.
Federal standards for manufactured homes were not instituted until 1976, four years after the Jimenezes’ home was built.
Before moving to the Owens trailer park, the Jimenez family lived in a mobile home in nearby Maple Park Court on North First Street.
That home, built in 1965, was condemned by the city in December, Kouba said.
“It had faulty electrical wiring, poor exterior walls, defective plumbing,” he said. “It just had general conditions that made it unfit for occupancy.”
Kouba said the Jimenez family abandoned that property sometime before it was condemned and removed in February.
Fire officials said they have had a general concern regarding the Maple Park Court property. They did not issue an operating permit this year to the park and its owners, Mike and Lori Miller, because of the poor condition of electrical and gas distribution systems and of some trailers. The Millers have not been available for comment.
The park continues to operate unlicensed with about 15 trailers occupied, Weidner said.
Fire investigators spent part of Wednesday inspecting trailer homes at the Maple Park Court property.
Theresa Palacio, an advocate for Norfolk’s Latino community, said she welcomes countywide inspections if they are done in a culturally sensitive manner.
She recommended that the city work with interpreters and the Mexican American Commission, of which she is a member, in conducting the home visits.
Otherwise, Palacio said, trailer residents could be intimidated, suspicious or fearful of a government inspector knocking on their door.
Fire safety
Raymond Nance, a spokesman for the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office, offers these fire-safety tips to mobile home owners:
A heating contractor should check furnaces at least once a year.
Filters should be inspected once a month and routinely changed to ensure proper air flow.
Papers and debris should not be placed on top of furnaces.
Flickering lights, blown fuses and tripped circuit breakers are signs that an electrician should look at the electrical system.
Appliances should be in good working order; homeowners should avoid overloading electrical circuits.
Portable gas or electric space heaters should be kept at least three feet away from items that might catch fire.
Don’t run extension cords under rugs.
Keep stoves clean, keep curtains away from burners and be careful with greases and oils that could ignite.
Make sure smoke detectors are operational.
Make sure there are two direct-access exits and windows that can be opened from the inside.
Have natural or propane gas company inspect connections and appliances annually.