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MOAB — A family displaced by a mobile home park fire in Moab is recounting the moments they had to rush out of their house and watch the blaze burn everything they own.
The fire broke out Sunday in the Pack Creek Mobile Home Park, burning down six mobile homes and damaging four more, according to the Moab Valley Fire Department.
Monday evening, families still couldn't get back to their homes to see if anything was salvageable. Roadblocks covered each of the two neighborhood entrances, with law enforcement standing by inside.
Moab Valley Fire responded to the park more than a day later, after smoke kicked back up in front of one of the homes. They hosed down a smoldering cushion.
Across the street, Erin and Jerry Wilson stood with their daughter and daughter's boyfriend. One of their three dogs began to whine.
"They definitely don't understand what's going on," Jerry Wilson said of their pups.
He recounted how he had just come inside Sunday afternoon and was sitting down when he and Erin Wilson began to smell smoke.
"He's all yelling, 'Fire!' and we ran out the door and he had no shoes on, no nothing," Erin Wilson recounted.
Once outside, they could see a blaze burning and their neighbor was screaming.
"My mother-in-law's backyard was on fire, part of our trailer was on fire and we got that out," Erin Wilson said, getting choked up as she spoke. "And he went around the front side of our trailer, and that's when everything started going."
Related:
6 mobile homes destroyed in Moab fire
A fire at a Moab mobile home park on Sunday resulted in the loss of six trailers and the evacuation of the park.The Wilsons ran back inside to grab their dogs and cats, and their daughter's pets. But it was too late to try to round them all up.
"I didn't get to save all my animals," Jerry Wilson said. "I actually pulled her out of a burning room while she was trying to save animals."
"We lost everything," Erin Wilson said.
Their daughter's bearded dragons as well as some of their cats died.
Jerry Wilson started to fight the flames until firefighters arrived, while Erin Wilson watched the blaze tear through several mobile homes, burning down six in total and damaging four more.
Their place is a total loss, and they said their late mother-in-law's trailer is mostly gone as well.
The Wilsons explained they have been fixing up their late mother-in-law's mobile home over the past couple of years with plans to move into it. Their daughter and daughter's boyfriend live with them, and they said many of their displaced neighbors also have kids in the home.
I'm just glad to get my family out alive and what animals I could save.
–Jerry Wilson
Moab Valley Fire said Monday they are still investigating how the fire started.
The only thing the Wilsons described seeing was that it looked like the fire started on the other side of their fence, in their neighbor's yard.
The Wilsons said they are staying at Erin's workplace, which is a local hotel for the next week, but they have no idea where to go after that.
As they figure out what comes next and mourn over the pets they lost, they're grateful the four of them are OK — along with their three dogs and one of their cats.
"I'm just glad to get my family out alive and what animals I could save," Jerry Wilson said.
