Mobile home destroyed by fire in Bethany Beach

REHOBOTH BEACH, MD-  A fire at the Engola Beach Estate mobile home park in Rehoboth Beach destroyed a home Thursday night, with firefighters working to stop the damage from spreading to surrounding units.

“I opened my door and all I could see was orange,” said next-door neighbor Judi Hatchel.

“first unit arrived on scene and found a single mobile home well involved in the center of it there was a lot of smokes and flames in there,” said Captain Kent Swarts of the Rehoboth Beach Fire Department. His department joined by the Lewes and Bethany Beach

fire companies arrived on the scene and began trying to enter the building, believing the building’s owner to be inside.

“they attacked it from both sides at that point and they did try to go in but the fire beat them back,” he said.

Swarts tells 47ABC, it was later determined the owner was not in the home, and the focus then shifted to protecting property. The two homes on both sides of the fire, including Hatchel’s, have warp marks on the roof and siding of their homes, a reminder of just how close the flames came to their property.

“The flames were shooting out of the whole center on both sides and if it got any bigger you can see the minor damage and there was melting on the other homes but if it got larger which it would have if we didn’t get out there you could easily see the neighboring homes catch fire too,” Swarts said. 

Hatchel told 47ABC she’s thankful for the swift efforts of the fire company that saved her home, and that no one was injured in the blaze.

“they were wonderful the Rehoboth beach [ Fire Department], those guys were unbelievable went right in didn’t think twice because they thought he was in there but we as standing outside thank god he is alright,” she said. 

An investigation into the cause of the fire has been launched by the Delaware State Fire Marshall’s office.