Firefighters tear into a burning mobile home on South Union Avenue. It's too much to take for the woman who called this place home for the last 6 years. In the red jacket, she cries, not wanting to see or talk about it. It started just after 10 Thursday morning.
"And it was just boom. blazing. Wires popping, hitting the ground," says Penny Henderson.
Bakersfield city firefighters tackled the mobile home fire, while Kern County crews tried to protect a building to its north.
The owner was not home, but staying with a friend and raced over worried about her pets and belongings. "Mainly her cats and all of her possessions, you know, pictures everything. That's all she has is what was there," says Elizabeth Ortega.
"I called the fire department twice. I think it took them a while but I was just so frightened. When I saw the fire, it was down here on this end. By the time they got here, it was gone," adds Henderson.
"En route we could see a pretty good column of smoke," says battalion chief Matt Moore.
Firefighters say it's not uncommon for dispatchers to get 50 calls or more all at once on visible fires like this one. A big, black smoke bruise in the sky can jam the lines, but not response times. "The system can only handle so many where in reality one call is going to take care of the problem. It's going to get us here," adds Moore.
Firefighters say the mobile home was condemned a couple of years ago. But the woman was living on the porch. And her friends say, she stored her belongings, as well as her mother's inside.
All of the stuff made it a tougher ten minute fight for crews and an unthinkable lifetime of memories lost for the homeowner. "Everything the girl has in the world is right there. The clothes on her back is all she has now," adds Henderson.
Fire investigators say it appears all of the cats ran from the mobile home and escaped the fire.
"And it was just boom. blazing. Wires popping, hitting the ground," says Penny Henderson.
Bakersfield city firefighters tackled the mobile home fire, while Kern County crews tried to protect a building to its north.
The owner was not home, but staying with a friend and raced over worried about her pets and belongings. "Mainly her cats and all of her possessions, you know, pictures everything. That's all she has is what was there," says Elizabeth Ortega.
"I called the fire department twice. I think it took them a while but I was just so frightened. When I saw the fire, it was down here on this end. By the time they got here, it was gone," adds Henderson.
"En route we could see a pretty good column of smoke," says battalion chief Matt Moore.
Firefighters say it's not uncommon for dispatchers to get 50 calls or more all at once on visible fires like this one. A big, black smoke bruise in the sky can jam the lines, but not response times. "The system can only handle so many where in reality one call is going to take care of the problem. It's going to get us here," adds Moore.
Firefighters say the mobile home was condemned a couple of years ago. But the woman was living on the porch. And her friends say, she stored her belongings, as well as her mother's inside.
All of the stuff made it a tougher ten minute fight for crews and an unthinkable lifetime of memories lost for the homeowner. "Everything the girl has in the world is right there. The clothes on her back is all she has now," adds Henderson.
Fire investigators say it appears all of the cats ran from the mobile home and escaped the fire.