Woodacre, CA -- A man was treated for facial burns and smoke inhalation early Friday morning after a fire at a Forest Knolls trailer park that destroyed the man’s home, killed his cat and left another family displaced.
One trailer was destroyed and three others sustained minor to moderate damage at the 20-unit park at 6700 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, said interim Battalion Chief Jeremey Pierce of the Marin County Fire Department. The man was injured when he tried to fend off the fire on his own, Pierce said.
Fire dispatchers received calls at 12:54 a.m. about a structure fire in the unincorporated West Marin town, and the first responders arrived at 1 a.m. One trailer was fully involved and five others were threatened, and Pierce said the fire was knocked down by 1:08 a.m.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. It was unclear if a smoke detector was present in the destroyed trailer.
The injured man, whose age was not released, was taken to Marin General Hospital and then transferred to a burn unit at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. His health status was unknown.
Twenty-four fire personnel participated in fighting the single-alarm blaze, including from Marin County Fire’s stations in Woodacre, Point Reyes and Hicks Valley plus the Skywalker Ranch Fire Brigade and the Ross Valley Fire Department. The Marin County Sheriff’s Office and the American Red Cross assisted as well.
One family was displaced from a moderately damaged trailer and received help from the Red Cross.
Firefighters used six engines, one water tender and one paramedic ambulance at the fire site.
“Stopping the fire where they did was a difficult task with the trailers and tight spacing in the park,” said Deputy Chief Mark Brown of Marin County Fire. “It is pretty remarkable that they were able to stop it before other trailers were fully engulfed.”
Pierce said he was impressed with the evacuation plan used by the trailer park residents.
“They had them all out of the trailers and accounted for by the time we arrived,” he said. “That was pretty impressive. At least we knew right away that they were all out and we didn’t have multiple people trapped.”
