- May 5, 2024
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Ormond Beach mobile home burns, but the owner found more injury in the aftermath.
BY EMILY BLACKWOOD | STAFF WRITER
Erlinda House lost her home, her business and her respect for Camelot Mobile Home Park Saturday afternoon in a fire.
When her mobile home No. 47 was destroyed, she felt the support of her neighbors and family to help her pick up the pieces. However, the property owners of Camelot, located off Nova Road, treated her in a harsh way that was completely unexpected, she said. Instead of giving her time to clean up, she was told she had to pay for the demolition of the home and was left with a bill for next month’s rent posted on the charred front door.
“How cold hearted are these people?” House said. “I’m paid till the end of this month. It’s all about greed. It is all about money. It’s so heartbreaking because this is my first experience here, and to add insult to injury is not appreciated at all.”
The owner could not be reached for comment.
House owned a business selling bonsai trees and Asian décor at local flea markets. She now has to shut it down because all of her merchandise was destroyed in the fire. She used the residence to store her inventory; she lives in Palm Coast.
“I’ve not had any good sleep at night, and I come here and they torture me like this,” House said. “But it’s OK; disaster comes to people, and I’m not bigger than anyone else.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s office.
Firefighters said that although they were able to get water from the nearest hydrant, a pressure-controlling stem inside of it broke as they were trying to shut it off, according to Tom Bazanos, battalion commander at the Ormond Beach Fire Department. That means the disaster could have been even more dramatic.
“We were unable to shut off that hydrant,” he said. “We were fortunate that it broke while it was open. If we have a fire where it breaks while we were trying to open it, then we do not get water out of it. There is nothing we can do.”
That particular fire hydrant is owned by Camelot Mobile Home Park, and though it uses the city’s water, it is not the city’s responsibility to maintain the hydrant.
“They are responsible for maintaining it,” David King, another battalion commander, said. “It was hard to get the steamer caps off the hydrant.”
He added: “You could tell it hadn’t been exercised in a while.”
City begins hydrant maintenance
The Ormond Beach Fire Department will soon begin its three-month process of checking the city’s 1,600 fire hydrants for adequacy.
Bazanos said the flushing of the hydrants can sometimes mix up the water and cause cloudiness.
If you see rust or discolored water, Bazanos said, let the faucet run to allow the sediment to resettle or work through the system.
