[Press Release] : Afternoon fire destroys mobile home

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Battalion Chief Steven E. Sapp, Public Information Officer -
(573) 499-7035

Afternoon fire destroys mobile home

COLUMBIA, MO (January 24, 2009) - The Columbia Fire Department
responded to a report of a fire at 3403 Elm Grove, Lot 12, of Elm Grove
Mobile Home Park at 2:56 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24. Fire personnel
reported heavy smoke from the area prior to arrival. Initial 9-1-1
reports stated that the mobile home was heavily involved in fire and
there were reports that an explosion occurred. 

Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and fire from the mobile home
and were contacted by the occupant, Peter Koenig, age 24. Koenig told
firefighters he and five pets, two dogs and three cats, were inside when
the fire began. Koenig, along with the two dogs and one cat, were able
to escape the mobile home without injuries. It appears that two cats
perished in the fire. 

A witness, Justin Samuels, 27, of Lot 2, told fire investigators he was
on his front porch when he heard a loud pop from the mobile home at lot
12. Samuels told investigators he then saw smoke coming from the trailer
and told his wife to call 9-1-1. Samuels ran to lot 12 and as he was
knocking on the door, Koenig was coming out with several pets. Samuels
used a portable fire extinguisher to try and put out the fire. He told
fire investigators that the fire was under the mobile home in the crawl
space underneath the area of the water heater. Samuels said that each
time he tried to extinguish the fire, it flared back up and eventually
the fire extinguisher was exhausted. 

Samuels also told fire investigators that just after Koenig exited the
mobile home, smoke alarms began to sound. Fire investigators believe
that the smoke alarms did not function earlier in the fire because the
fire was contained to the underneath side of the mobile home. 

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