PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. -- A family in Price George County escaped their burning mobile home with just the clothes they had on their backs.
"I just remember her saying, babe, and I go running into the bedroom thinking the cats might have knocked over a lamp and I noticed that the panel box was on fire," Matthew Hardy, one of those in the mobile home, said.
The fire happened just before 6:30 at the Bexley Mobile Home park.
"Before the fire department got here, the back bedroom was already fully enflamed," Hardy said.
Prince George County's fire chief Paul Beamon said firefighters quickly arrived at the scene.
"They got here around six minutes after being dispatched, other units arrived shortly thereafter," Beamon said.
Their home was a total loss and the fire has left those in the community concerned for their safety after they learned that the fire hydrants inside the privately owned park weren't working correctly.
Firefighters would discover this problem when they would go to fight the flames.
"Those hydrants have a known history of not working or having low water pressure," Beamon said. "We were able to put the fire out with the water we carry on the fire apparatus. As several units came in, we were able to connect to those units and be able to put the fire out."
The fire hydrants inside the mobile home park were not part of the county water system.
"The location of the home, residents in a privately-owned mobile home park and within that is privately-owned hydrants that the county does not maintain," Beamon said.
"I was very surprised to hear no water because that's not what you think when you think of fire hydrants," Deborah Mansfield, a concerned resident, said.
Now, Mansfield plans to look for answers about if the hydrants will be fixed to work correctly.
"I'm very concerned because that could have been, all these trailers are rented, that could have been any of us," Mansfield said.
The Red Cross has been called in to help the four members of the family who were displaced by the fire.
