FIRE DESTROYS SEVEN MOBILE HOMES 10 LAKE LOS ANGELES RESIDENTS LEFT HOMELESS.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN

Staff Writer

A fire at a Lake Los Angeles mobile home park Tuesday destroyed seven homes and left 10 people homeless, a Fire Department official said.

The fire started about 2 p.m. in a mobile home on 145th Street about a half-mile south of Avenue O and quickly spread, authorities said.

About 80 firefighters and two water-dumping helicopters battled the blaze at the park in the remote community on the Antelope Valley's eastern fringe. Firefighters managed to put out the blaze by 4:15 p.m. but were still hosing down embers, a Fire Department spokesman said.

Multiple propane explosions caused the fire to spread rapidly, 17th Battalion Chief Michael Erb said. The blaze burned about 3 acres of brush and briefly jumped a steep hillside, threatening one home on the eastern side of the hill before firefighters got the upper hand.

Firefighters rescued three people trapped in one home, Erb said. One person suffered minor injuries, but no firefighters were hurt.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, Erb said.

"I heard screaming, and I came outside and I saw the smoke go up," said neighbor Michael Johnson, who said the flames reached about 40 feet in height. "I grabbed some fire extinguishers, but it was too late."

Wanda Jensen, a woman who does charitable work for her church, was among those left homeless.

Jensen spent several hours bagging groceries for needy local residents at her Living Springs Foursquare Church earlier in the day.

Jensen's Pekingese dog escaped the blaze unharmed, but she said she lost everything else she owned.

"I may have lost everything, but I still have my church and I still have my faith in God, and he's going to take care of everything," Jensen said, tears streaming down her face.

Living Springs Pastor Sharon Toyne said several other members of her congregation were displaced. She said the church is committed to providing shelter and human services to everyone displaced by the blaze.

Providing such services will be particularly critical in a desolate region that lacks adequate facilities to address such needs, Lake Los Angeles Town Council President Marlene Oliveras said.

"We're kind of on the back side of the Antelope Valley, and we have no services out here," Oliveras said. "It's going to be a challenge for us as a community."

Anyone interested in assisting the fire victims is asked to call Living Springs at [phone].

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Firefighters battle a blaze at a mobile home park on 145th Street East near Avenue O in Lake Los Angeles.

(2) Firefighters battle a Lake Los Angeles blaze at a mobile home park on Tuesday.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer