Angola fires set resident on edge

A recent fire in Angola has one resident concerned about the time it takes firefighters to find homes in his neighborhood.

“Each time it's taken time for them to come back and find where the fire was,” said Forrest Moyer, a resident of Angola Neck II.

Tucked off Camp Arrowhead Road, access to Angola Neck II is from Oak Drive, a dirt road with pronounced potholes. Near its end, the road bends toward Angola Neck II where no sign announces the entrance of the neighborhood, and only a few, faint, handmade signs mark streets with names such as Maple Lane and Cherry Lane.

Other roadways are anyone's guess. “Did you notice the street name changed when you drove in?” Moyer asked. “A lot of people don't realize it changes.”

From the bend in Oak Drive, the street becomes Cypress Drive.

The fire at an unoccupied singlewide trailer on Cypress Drive, two doors down from Moyer, was well underway by the time firefighters arrived, he said. His neighbors were asleep when the fire started, and other residents woke them.

“They had to wail on the door to wake them up,” Moyer said.

Two cats died in the fire. Moyer said he broke a side window with the intention of getting them out, but it was too hot. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire – the cause of which is still under investigation.

Harry Miller, chief deputy state fire marshal, said roads can be an issue for emergency vehicles. Some are state maintained, others are county maintained, and then there are private roads that have little maintenance, he said.

When he was fire chief of Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Co., Miller said he remembers driving equipment down narrow, bumpy roads, riddled with potholes.

“I know what they're talking about with bad roads,” Miller said. “I don't like to have to slow down, but it's something we have to contend with.”

Older mobile home parks, such as ones in Angola, may have roads that are difficult to navigate. Fires in older parks add an extra layer of threat because many mobile homes are more flammable than newer models. “They are better made now than how they were made back then,” Miller said.

Spacing in trailer parks is always tight, he said, no matter where in the county fire departments respond.

“We're not doing any more there then we're doing at Sea Air or Camelot,” he said. “There's always the potential to spread from one property to another.”

Moyer recalls two old trailers in Angola Neck II that burned in recent years and were quickly replaced by modular ranch homes built on foundations.

He questioned whether some fires have been a convenient way to replace old homes.

Miller said investigators are trained to look for intentionally set fires. “We're told not to just ignore a kitchen fire,” he said. “Mom might be tired of her kitchen and wants a new one.”

But proving someone intentionally set a fire can be difficult, he said. In one of the Angola Neck II fires, Miller said, there was a burn pile of debris near the home, but investigators could not prove that someone left it burning on purpose.

“How do you prove an owner intentionally burnt his own property?” he asked.

Besides, he said, there is no law in Delaware against a homeowner burning their own home. If someone files an insurance claim, that would be fraud, Miller said, or if the fire puts a nearby property at risk, it would be reckless burning. Also, if there is a mortgage on the home, Miller said, the bank that owns the mortgage would be considered a victim. But if none of those apply, and a person owns their home outright, no arson law pertains to a homeowner setting fire to their home, he said.

Since 2006, Miller said there have been about two dozen fires in the Angola area. There were five in 2014 – three arsons connected to one man, who has since died. Miller said they suspect the man was involved with a fourth fire, but fire officials could never prove it.

“It's our opinion that in 2014 one person was doing it out of frustration,” he said.

In October 2014, police charged Andrew S. Thompson, then 19, in connection with fires that burned an unoccupied mobile home and a garage and boat, all on Pine Road, two streets away from Angola Neck II. Thompson was also charged with vandalizing a jet ski on Pine Road the same night.

Thompson died in December 2014 after a fiery crash on Route 24. Police said Thompson was speeding in a stolen car when he lost control near Legion Road and crashed into an oncoming pickup truck. The vehicles burst into flames; Thompson was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the pickup was pulled from his vehicle by several bystanders. He was treated for injuries that were not life threatening.