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Gloria Perry, left, and Bob Lucia, right, get Red Cross packets from disaster action team member Kimberly Frigard after an electrical fire at their trailer park led to their evacuation.
Jim Davis / Arizona Daily star
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Casa de la Luz Hospice RN Residential Hospice House Manager Health Care ARIZONA COMMUNITY PHYSICIANS LAB MANAGER Administrative & Professional NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY PROJECT DIRECTOR Finance and Accounting FLOWERS, RIEGER & ASSOCIATES TAX STAFF Sales and Marketing EVER-READY GLASS SALES REPS Health Care COPE BEHAVIORAL SERVICES MULTIPEL POSITIONS Education VAIL SCHOOL DISTRICT SAFETY COORDINATOR Tucson RegionFaulty wiring may take days to fix
Electrical fire at trailer park sends 30 residents to hotelARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.27.2009
A group of Northwest Side residents will get free lodging at an extended-stay hotel after an electrical hazard forced them out of their trailer homes.
More than 30 people from the Aristocrat Trailer Park, in the 4400 block of North Old Romero Road, were moved to the InTown Suites Friday after authorities discovered some faulty wiring at the property.
The property's owner, Mark Wierzbinski, paid to have his tenants moved to the hotel, on West Ina Road near North Thornydale Road, he said.
The Northwest Fire District were called to the trailer park late Friday morning for an electrical fire, but the fire had been extinguished when firefighters got there, said Capt. Adam Goldberg, a Northwest Fire District spokesman. However, the firefighters noticed some electrical problems and called Tucson Electric Power Co., he said.
TEP shut off the power at the trailer park to allow a private contractor to safely repair the equipment, said TEP spokesman Joseph Barrios.
Wierzbinski said the problem was a bad wire that ran to one of the homes.
"He needs to get an emergency permit in order to turn the electricity back on," Wierzbinski said.
Wierzbinksi, who was out of town on a business trip Friday, said he hoped to get a permit on Monday.
"We should have everything up within three days," he said.
His tenants will be able to stay in the hotel for a week, he said.
The residents will be able to take their pets to the hotel with them.
Red Cross of Southern Arizona personnel handed out water and provided dinner to the families that moved to the Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center after they were evacuated.
The community center is at 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road, across the street from the trailer park.
Most of the tenants and homeowners who live on the property didn't mind being displaced, even before they knew they were going to a hotel.
Andrea and Bob Lucia sat in the air-conditioned community center with their two daughters, Bobbie, 6, and Britteny Broom, 12.
They also had a kitten, a cat and a dog in the community center with them.
Andrea Lucia was on her computer when the power went off in her home, she said.
"About an hour before it went out, I saw a firetruck go down the back alley," Lucia said. "One hour later, the power went off."
Lucia was not upset about leaving her home for a few days, she said.
"Actually, I kind of like it, because it's like a vacation to me," she said.
Gloria Perry had just arrived from the pharmacy when she saw power company vehicles and firetrucks parked near her home, she said.
Perry, 61, didn't notice the power had been shut off until she tried to turn on one of her fans, she said.
"I went to click the blower, and it clicked on and clicked off," she said. "Then I noticed the other fan was off."
Contact reporter Jamar Younger at 573-4115 or jyounger@azstarnet.com.
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