News: Body of a man went undiscovered after fire

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

News: Body of a man went undiscovered after fire

Body found two months after fire

The body of a man apparently killed in a March 5 mobile home fire in Madera County went un

discovered until Tuesday, when sheriff's investigators following up on a missing-person report found it in the living room area.

A man who lived in the home hasn't been seen since the March 5 fire, but investigators said Tuesday they aren't yet sure whose body they found.

"We can't identify him until we've done DNA and dental records," Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart said Tuesday.

Investigators from the Cal Fire Madera-Mariposa-Merced unit were dispatched to the burned home on Avenue 13 1/4 near Road 28 1/2 after Madera County sheriff's investigators found the body.

Authorities did not identify the missing resident. Family members reported him missing after the fire, but no trace of the man was found, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Karen Guillemin.

The body found Tuesday was burned beyond recognition, Guillemin said. Cal Fire investigators are trying to determine why firefighters did not find the body on March 5.

A neighbor said Tuesday that he had told firefighters a man might be inside, because the man's shopping cart was in front of the mobile home. The man was losing his vision and often pushed a shopping cart around the area, neighbor Wayne Noel said.

"I knew him as Ed," he said. "I saw him that morning. He was down the road with his shopping cart."

The man lived alone, Noel said.

Source: Fresno Bee - Article Link
Tags: Cal Fire, Madera County, Sheriff's Department, Madera-Mariposa-Merced unit

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008