Thermal Mobile Home Park Still In Legal Limbo

The owners of a Thermal mobile home park are heading back to court this week.

Several residents at the Hernandez Mobile Home Park filed a lawsuit and restraining order against them last month because the electricity had been shut off and not restored.

That left more then 50 residents without air conditioning or the ability to cook.

Nine out of the 21 units lost electricity on Sept. 8 when an electrical box caught fire.

The owner’s said they wanted to fix the problem but couldn’t because the park is unlicensed.

Coral Padilla is speaking for the residents.

She said power was restored but that most of the trailer park is now experiencing rolling blackouts.

“The breakers went off like 4 times already,” she said.

The owners hired an electrician to fix the electricity on Oct. 5, which is less than a week after a judge ordered the power back on.

But instead of installing a new electrical system the owners simply connected the powerless homes to an existing electrical grid.

That may have overloaded the system — causing problems for everybody.

“We put a new breaker on it,” said Oscar Hernandez, who is speaking for his brother Miguel Hernandez, the owner of the park. “It was done through an electrician. So, from Oct. 13 to now, there haven’t been any blackouts — not that I know of because they haven’t called us to let us know there’s a black out over here.”

Hernandez said they never refused to have the power restored — he said they weren’t allowed.

The Riverside County Fire Department extinguished the Sept. 8 fire, and then notified the Imperial Irrigation District of the problem which provides power to the park.

“It was just a matter of fixing a box,” said Hernandez. “The county didn’t let us, because we didn’t have any permits.”

The park is not permitted because the owners rent space to more then twelve trailers which is a code violation.

Hernandez said he wanted to fix the problem but couldn’t afford the permit.

Nearly three weeks went by and residents without power hired Megan Beaman Carlson to fight their case in court.

A judge then issued an order favoring the residents.

“It orders to restore electricity to all mobile homes in the park, to repair the drainage system and to refrain from any retaliatory behavior or eviction against the residents in the park,” said Carlson, with California Rural Legal Assistance.

Hernandez said they are following the order and don’t plan on evicting anyone from the park.

“I charge (residents) $200 a month — that’s it,” said Hernandez. “The waters free. We even provide light for the outside and that’s not an extra cost.”

Both sides are back in court this Thursday.

The order issued last month was temporary because an emergency lawsuit was filed.

Residents want the judge to issue a permanent order.