Neighbors at an RV park in Grover Beach are still experiencing the impacts of a trailer fire that broke out just after Christmas.
The fire started in one of the RVs at the Grand Avenue Mobile Home Park on the evening of December 27. Police officers had to step in to rescue the man who lived there, Paul Schneider, as flames engulfed his home. Firefighters say the blaze was sparked by a portable propane heater that Schneider was using inside his trailer.
WATCH: Grover Beach PD releases dramatic video of trailer fire rescue
Schneider's trailer was destroyed, and a couple of his neighbor's homes were also affected.
“I'm devastated,” said resident Cris Anderson.
Anderson had lived at the mobile home park for five years.
“I put every penny into this trailer to buy it,” she said.
The fire spread to Anderson's RV, causing extensive damage.
“Everything was ripped away from me,” Anderson said.
Important paperwork, photos, furniture, and more are all gone.
“Due to nothing I’ve done,” she said.
“I've been here 25 years. This has never happened, so we were all really taken aback by it,” said Rose Noland, Grand Avenue Mobile Home Park Property Manager.
Noland says the RV on the other side of the trailer that burned also has damage.
“Just his slide was damaged. There was a lot of smoke on the inside of his trailer and it was his part-time home,” Noland said.
All three damaged trailers remain at the park for now. Noland says they’re trying to figure out how to remove the one with the worst damage.
Anderson, meanwhile, is trying to stay positive.
“I just want another home. I don't know how but I'm going to take one day at a time and deal with what I have to deal with,” she said.
For now, Anderson is living with her boyfriend but says she hopes to eventually buy a new trailer. She says she doesn't have insurance. A neighbor has started a GoFundMe to help her raise money.
Schneider's co-workers at The Home Depot in San Luis Obispo also set up a GoFundMe to help him recover.
