Ferdinand fire deemed arson
Ferdinand — A fire that displaced a family Wednesday morning has been turned over to the state fire marshal’s office as an arson investigation.
The fire was discovered Wednesday morning at about 11:30 by Pam Hobbs, who lives there with her husband Michael Hobbs, their daughter Allison, 3, Pam’s daughter Kayce Fisher, 14, and Pam’s friend Tracy Merkel.
Pam discovered the fire when she returned to the mobile home residence at 633 W. Ninth St., in the Cedar Manor mobile home park, from Ferdinand’s 18th Street Park. She and Michael were there with the two girls and the family dog before they were scheduled to go to a medical appointment for Michael.
Michael was diagnosed with bladder cancer in January. He has been out of work since 2010 due to medical conditions requiring two brain surgeries. Pam had taken the day off from her job to take him to the medical appointment scheduled for Wednesday.
Ferdinand Fire Chief Dan Lindauer stated he received the call for the fire at 11:33 a.m. and were on scene shortly after that. Fifteen firefighters and three trucks responded to the fire which was quickly doused. Memorial EMS were on scene on standby to assist.
The fire appeared to be sourced from an electrical outlet in the kitchen of the home. “When we responded we found the mobile home was full of smoke,” Lindauer explained. “We found the fire in the kitchen above the sink. The window above the sink was engulfed in flames and we were able to quickly put it out. We then ventilated the house.”
Originally Lindauer stated the fire appeared to be due to an electrical fault but as he was investigating it, he became suspicious of the true cause of the fire.
“I wasn’t happy with ruling this thing electrical,” Lindauer stated. “The fire appeared to have started around a receptacle but none of the electrical appliances were plugged into any of the outlets.”
Lindauer felt there was another source of the fire and contacted the state fire marshal to assist in the investigation.
State Fire Marshal Chad Woodburn investigated the fire today and agreed with Lindauer’s suspicions that the fire was intentionally set. “We felt that there was some tampering around one of the outlets that led us to believe the fire was intentionally set,” Lindauer explained.
The investigation has been turned over to the state fire marshal.
Meanwhile, the Hobbs family has taken up residence at the campground at Dubois County Park. They are waiting for word from the insurance company on how to proceed.
The home is still livable but will have to be cleaned and repaired — the kitchen has water and fire damage while heavy smoke permeates the residence — before the Hobbs can move back in. “They will need to fix the kitchen and have all of their clothes cleaned, but they can move back in,” Lindauer said. “Apparently the homeowner caught it in a very early stage. We arrive minutes later. Giving the fire another minute or two at the longest, we probably would have had a totally engulfed home.”
