Fire at Indio mobile home park displaces dozens of families

Residents of nearly half of the homes in an Indio mobile home park found themselves displaced this morning in the aftermath of a fire in a laundry room electrical panel, the Riverside County Fire Department reported.

The fire in the laundry room of the Towne Mobile Home Park at 46350 Towne St. was reported at 7:39 p.m. Sunday, department spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson said.`

Firefighters contained the fire to one of three electrical panels and put it out around 7:50 p.m., she said.

The panel provided electricity to 31 of the 71 mobile homes, she said.

Residents of those homes were told to find other places to stay for about 24 hours, Hendrickson said.

The Riverside County Office of Emergency Services assisted them in moving to hotels or relatives’ homes.

The cause of the fire was determined to be electrical.

No injuries were reported.