A mobile home fire that broke out Thursday morning at Central and Roeser was challenging for fire crews because the nearest fire hydrant was outside the park. Crews use a special mapping system to detect hydrants and find the best way to reach them.
One mobile home caught fire and the flames spread to another, pushing eight people out of their homes.
As a fire truck pulls out of the station, crews are pulling up their special mapping system on their computer to locate the nearest hydrant and make a plan to reach it.
"Going to a fire, it's really one of the main responsibilities," said Phoenix Fire Captain Larry Subervi.
Capt. Subervi pointed out that the hydrants show up as blue dots on their maps and they can try to pre-plan how to reach them.
"Mobile home parks are always really difficult because the layouts vary and the streets are really narrow," said Subervi.
That was the situation with the early mobile home fire at Central and Roeser. The home on fire was deep in the park, making it hard for crews to reach the nearest fire hydrant. They were forced to connect two hoses, spanning 1,500 feet.
"It's a significant lay," said Subervi. "And we had to bring in another truck to boost the water pressure."
Subervi says it can be a major challenge to navigate the fire hydrants but it is something they train for extensively.
Phoenix fire says the two homes that were damaged did not have working smoke alarms.
