Heat tape underneath a residence overheated, causing a Thursday morning fire that destroyed the home in the Pine Valley Trailer Court.
Firefighters with the Bemidji Fire Department were called at 11:03 a.m. to Pine Valley Trailer Court Lot 125 in Grant Valley Township in response to a fire at the residence. At the scene, firefighters found the trailer completely engulfed in flames.
Myrannda Cross, who rents the trailer with her fianc? Edward Bettelyoun, was at home with friend Courtney Silk when both women noticed smoke coming from toward the back of the trailer. Cross said that she and Silk left the home and went to the manager's office to alert him of the problem. When they returned, she saw that the entire residence had caught on fire.
Twenty-one firefighters and six vehicles responded to the fire. Interim Bemidji Fire Captain Dick Sathers said it took firefighters a little more than an hour to fully extinguish it.
No one was injured, but the trailer was declared a total loss, according to Sathers.
ADVERTISEMENT
An investigator from the Bemidji Police Department determined that the fire was likely caused by the heat tape that wraps around the pipes underneath the trailer. Heat tape is used to keep pipes from freezing.
Bettelyoun, who was at work when the fire started, said that repairs to the trailer's furnace and a water line had just been completed on Monday. He said there had been ongoing problems with the pipes in the past, but he thought the problems had been fixed.
Bettelyoun and Cross are currently seeking help from the Red Cross.
