CALIMESA, Calif. — The body of a second victim was found at a mobile home park ravaged by a brush fire sparked by a trash truck near Interstate 10 in Calimesa, authorities said over the weekend.

The fire also killed a senior citizen, destroyed at least 76 mobile homes, and blackened 1,011 acres. As of Monday evening the fire was 100 percent contained.

Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park is still under an evacuation order.

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An 89-year-old resident of the mobile home park also died in the fire. Lois Arvickson's son told reporters that his mother, who lived alone, was on the phone with him, preparing to leave in her car, when the line went dead.

Riverside County sheriff's officials said the coroner's office was working to identify the second victim of the fire.

Another nine homes at the Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park sustained moderate damage in the fire, which was reported at 1:58 p.m. Thursday at  Sandalwood Drive and Seventh Street, near the Interstate 10 exit ramp. 

"This was a very rapidly moving fire,'' Riverside County Fire Department Division Chief Todd Hopkins said during a Friday news briefing in Beaumont. "It started when a trash truck caught fire, and the burning trash was jettisoned out the back of the vehicle.''

 

 

Flames from the burning trash ignited dry grass and spread into the RV park, he said.

Sheriff Chad Bianco said the Central Homicide Unit was handling the death investigation, and he noted that two people who resided in the mobile home park remain unaccounted for, though he stopped short of calling them missing. They weren't identified.

"We're trying to determine whether there's criminal culpability,'' Bianco said. "We're investigating to see if we need any type of criminal charges, and we are still in the process of identifying everybody who should have been or lived in the mobile home park.''

County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, who previously served as the city's mayor, called it "a very, very difficult day for Riverside County and Calimesa.''

"This fire has caused extensive damage to the community, and we have lost life,'' he said. "My heart goes out to the community, and our thoughts are especially with the grieving relatives.''

Hewitt said the county Emergency Management Department issued an emergency proclamation, which the Board of Supervisors is slated to ratify during a special session next Thursday morning to enable the county to apply for immediate state and federal aid.

Mandatory evacuations were in effect south of Seventh Street and east of County Line Road, as well as for nearby Mesa View Middle School, whose students were taken by bus to Calimesa Elementary School in Yucaipa on Thursday.

Bianco said more than 500 homes were under evacuation as of Saturday morning, and Seventh Street was shut down between Sandalwood Drive and County Line Road.

"That road closure will be in place for quite some time because of the investigation,'' the sheriff said, adding that deputies were providing security around evacuated properties to prevent looting.

A half dozen Cal Fire air tankers and several water-dropping helicopters were summoned Thursday afternoon to make runs on the fire, which expanded into San Bernardino County.

The sheriff advised anyone who has information about the fire, or who is from the area and may have other concerns, to call 951-776-1099 and use option No. 5.

The Red Cross requested donations to its Disaster Relief fund to help those impacted. Donations can be made at redcross.org, or 800-733-2767.