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By Miriam Raftery
April 17, 2013 (Spring Valley) – For the second time in a week, a homeless man has died in East County. Last week, Mike Brown’s body was found beside a freeway onramp in El Cajon, just days after he was beaten and robbed of the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card he needed for food, an acquaintance of the victim told ECM.
Today, a homeless man died of smoke inhalation when the commercial trailer where he had been sleeping caught fire in Spring Valley. The deaths highlight the dangers of living on the streets or in makeshift shelters in East County, which has no shelter to house the growing number of homeless persons in our region.
CALFIRE/San Miguel Fire District firefighters responded to today’s blaze at 12:09 p.m. at the corner of Jamacha Blvd. and Sweetwater Springs.
“When Firefighters arrived on scene, flames had breached the back roof of the trailer, reaching about 20 feet into the air. As emergency crews arrived an area resident told Firefighters he thought someone was in the trailer,” Leonard Villareal, spokesman for the fire district, said.
Once the fire was under control first responders entered the commercial trailer and found the victim on the floor in the front of the trailer. He had suffered from extreme smoke inhalation.
Rescue teams preformed CPR on the victim for about 20 minutes. At one point a slight pulse had returned, at which time the victim was transported to Grossmont Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An acquaintance of the victim told fire officials that the victim had taken advantage of a broken lock on the trailer door and began living there. There are two trailers kept at the corner lot, which advertise “Pointe Builders”. The acquaintance told investigators the trailer was “full” of trash, Villareal said.
It is customary for the San Miguel Fire District to request the assistance of the Sheriff’s
Arson/bomb squad in a fire investigation when the dollar loss is high or if a serious injury or death occurs. The Sheriff Arson/Bomb detail is now conducting an investigation.
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