WOODLAND — A Woodland man is facing attempted murder and arson charges after allegedly setting fire to a mobile home with four family members inside, two of them young children.
All four escaped from the Sunday afternoon blaze at the Idle Wheel Estates on Bourn Drive, where fire crews arrived to find the mobile home fully involved in flames, Woodland Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Sander said.
“During the extinguishment of the fire we received reports that one of the residents had started the fire,” Sander said. Police arrested 64-year-old Ernesto Lane Morales on suspicion of four counts of attempted murder, arson of an inhabited structure and a probation violation.
Sander said Morales is believed to have intentionally set the fire, as “some of the evidence that we found suggested he was aware of what he was doing.”
The investigation reportedly revealed that the elderly woman who originally occupied the mobile home had recently moved to a convalescent facility, and there was an ongoing dispute among her relatives as to who would continue living at the Idle Wheel Estates.
“There had been some suggestion earlier in the day that (Morales said) if he couldn’t live there, nobody could live there,” Sander said. The two children who were inside the home when the fire broke out were under 8 years old and had been visiting for the day, he added.
Morales is being held without bail at the Yolo County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Yolo Superior Court.
Sander said the fire caused about $70,000 in damage to the mobile home, which was boarded up and surrounded by a chain-link fence Monday. The flames also caused damage to the neighboring unit, where one resident said he feels fortunate the damage wasn’t much worse.
The man, who asked not to be identified, said his mother had gone outside to empty the trash when “all of a sudden she started seeing fire.” The flames spread quickly, though, “so she just backed off.”
Firefighters were able to contain the fire in about 25 minutes and prevent it from fully spreading to the neighboring home, which sustained a couple of broken windows, melted siding and an air-conditioning unit that now won’t function, the resident said.
“My mobile home would have been torn apart in a few minutes if they (firefighters) hadn’t gotten here, so I guess I’m lucky,” the man said. “I’m just thankful I’m still here.”
The man said he didn’t know much about Morales, who apparently was related to the elderly woman who formerly lived there. Her adult children and other relatives moved in over the past year or so to care for her until she went to the convalescent home.
Her relatives stayed behind, accumulating trash-filled shopping carts and other household items in a side yard, the neighbor said.
“Other than that, they were real good neighbors,” he said. “I feel bad for them now.”
According to Sander, the displaced family is receiving assistance from the American Red Cross until the damage to the mobile home is repaired.
Yolo Superior Court records show Morales has a criminal record here going back to at least 1995 on charges including drug possession, theft, burglary and embezzlement of an elder. He was last incarcerated in June 2015 after violating the terms of his supervised release under AB 109, the state’s prison realignment measure.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene