Mobile home fire claims five lives early Saturday Ocala
Marion County Fire Liberate received a call from a cell phone about a fire at a home at 11300 N.W. 20th Street at 6:44 a.m. Firefighters were on scene at 6:52 and the blaze was extinguished at 7:20.
Officials said the 800-quadrangular-foot three-bedroom home, built in 1970, was fully engulfed and that the roof collapsed.
Although not officially confirmed by the Land Fire Marshal, according to Sandra Tuttle, her daughter, Tabetha Belanger, 25, perished in the fire, along with her sons, Orion Belanger, 6; Nicholas Belanger, 4; Michael Belanger-Chase, who turned 2 years old Nov. 2; and Aron Pursuit Jr., just eight days shy of being 3 months old.
Lt. Bernie Kleinschmidt with the State Fire Marshals office said late Saturday afternoon, We have no talk over with to believe it is not them. However, official identification will not be confirmed until autopsies are done by the Medical Examiner tomorrow.
Miranda Iglesias, spokeswoman for Marion County Fire Save said Saturday, This is the highest number of fatalities in one single structure in two decades.
