Fire Rips Through Home In West Valley
West Valley House Fire
"The smoke was just climbing into the sky."
Linden Asbell couldn't believe what he saw when he walked out of his front door yesterday morning.
"Huge plume of smoke coming up, flames it was just black as night over there, it was remnant of something you would see in a forest fire there was so much fuel going on," says Linden Asbell who lives next door.
All the smoke is gone today and all that remains is rubble, after a fire ripped through a double wide manufactured home on Windowlawn Road in West Valley.
No one was home at the time, and firefighter don't know how long it burned before someone called 9-1-1. They say the flames likely spread quickly because of the way the home was constructed.
"Typically those have a lot of wood paneling and they burn pretty fast and the fire started out side and basically worked its way into the house and no one saw it for a quite a bit of time so by the time someone saw it the fire was already throughout the house," says Deputy Fire Chief Nathan Craig.
Investigators believe a smoldering cigarette on the porch lit a table on fire, which spread to the house. They say cigarettes are frequently the cause of house fires.
"I'd say 25% of most of the home fires we go to usually a cigarette is somewhere in it. If people are going to smoke they really need to make sure they are extinguished and water is the best way to do that," says Nathan Craig.
Neighbor Linden Asbell is just glad no one was injured.
"It's a relief, the people that live out here they have only got their neighbors to rely on and in a situation like this its just really a blessing that they weren't home."