Neighbors grieve after a woman and her dog die in Arroyo Grande mobile home fire
A mobile home fire in Arroyo Grande late Saturday evening killed one person and their dog, according to Five Cities Fire Authority Chief Steve Lieberman.
Another person was injured in the fire and remained hospitalized as of Sunday morning, Lieberman said.
The two were sisters, according to neighbors who knew them well. The woman who died was 72, and her sister in the hospital is 70, neighbor Ildiko Zsiga said.
The home was “a complete loss,” Lieberman said, but fire crews from the Five Cities Fire Authority and Cal Fire were able to stop the blaze before it spread to surrounding homes, which officials say incurred slight smoke and fire damage.
The fire started just before 11 p.m. Saturday at the Grande Mobile Manor near South Halycon Road and The Pike. By 11:30 p.m., crews put the fire out, transported one person to a hospital and were searching for the second person who they later found dead within the home, according to Five Cities Fire Authority.
Zsiga, who called 911, said when she saw the flames coming from the home, she was so shocked she forgot what her own phone number was when the dispatcher asked.
“Before I went to sleep last night, I looked outside and I saw the huge flames coming from the house,” she said. “I said, ‘Hurry, hurry,’ I was screaming, yelling so loud.”
Zsiga said she knew the two sisters for the 13 years she’d lived there. She always helped with groceries and cooking meals for them.
“I loved them,” she said. “Even their little, barky dog I loved, too.”
Another neighbor, Mary Duckett, said the sisters were kind, loving individuals.
“It’s a great tragedy, for both of them,” she said through tears.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is assisting the fire agency with the investigation into the cause of the fire, Lieberman said. The woman in the hospital was burned in the fire, neighbors said, but it was not clear to what extent.
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 12:11 PM.
