‘We’re at a total loss.’ SLO couple displaced after fire burned down motor home
A San Luis Obispo couple is unsure of where they will go next after a fire burned down their motor home early Monday morning.
Jason Coleman and Christina Malmen have lived in San Luis Obispo for more than 20 years.
Six months ago, they received a motor home by Hope’s Village of SLO, a local nonprofit organization that helps unhoused people and their families.
Coleman and Malmen are volunteers with Hope’s Village of SLO and have helped out at the nonprofit’s mobile shower events and food distribution for the past year.
The couple was watching TV in their motor home parked on Empressa Drive around 4 a.m. Monday when Malmen said she noticed smoke coming from the microwave.
Coleman said he got up to check out what was burning.
“I moved the microwave and a fire was behind there, so I ran outside to try to figure out was going on,” Coleman said.
Outside, he said, he saw flames creeping up one side of the motor home and onto the roof. Coleman began shouting at Malmen to get out right away and call for help.
“Once I saw the fire, I ran to get water and threw water on it and it had no effect, so I’m yelling at her saying, ‘Hey call the fire department, get out of there, get out, get out, get out,’ ” Coleman said.
By the time the San Luis Obispo City Fire Department arrived, the motor home was “already engulfed halfway,” Malmen said, leaving the couple with only what they had grabbed on their way out.
Firefighters knocked down by around 5:20 a.m., SLO City Fire said. According to PulsePoint, firefighters were on the scene for roughly an hour and 30 minutes.
According to Malmen, only the back corner of the motor home was left standing.
“We’re at a total loss right now,” Coleman said. “Everything’s gone, but well, we’re breathing, that’s the main thing.”
Since Monday, Coleman and Malmen have stayed at San Luis Obispo’s Vagabond Inn thanks to Hope’s Village of SLO.
However, their hotel stay is only expected to last until Sunday. After that, they aren’t sure where they’ll go.
“We’re not too sure what we’re going to do right now. We’re just kind of playing it day by day,” Malmen said. “People have been wonderful ... bringing food and a little bit of comfort.”
While many people have helped them along the way, Malmen said several people have accused the couple of intentionally setting the fire — something she wanted to put to rest.
“We didn’t intentionally set that fire. We read a comment on the news that someone felt that we intentionally set that fire, so that we could get housing,” Malmen said, but that’s not true. “That was our home.”
To donate to Hope’s Village of SLO, which has been helping provide the couple with resources, visit hopesvillageofslo.com/donate.
