Assistance center to open for those displaced by DHS mobile home fire

A local assistance center will soon open to help residents who were displaced from the Country Squire RV Park fire that destroyed nine mobile homes in Desert Hot Springs, officials announced Monday.

The Riverside County Emergency Management Department and other county departments, Desert Hot Springs city officials and state partners will coordinate to open the center this week in an effort to help residents transition from the shelter that was set up in Desert Hot Springs High School, according to a statement from Supervisor V. Manuel Perez.

“Our county departments as well as other agencies in our community are assisting residents through the response and recovery from this fire, and I want to thank the Palm Springs Unified School District for making the high school available to support the community,” Perez said in a statement.

Firefighters responded at 12:34 p.m. July 18 to the fire in the 66400 block of Dillon Road, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. Crews from the Cathedral City, Hemet, Palm Springs and Soboba fire departments helped in the firefight.

Due to the presence of a 500-gallon propane tank, over 100 people were evacuated from trailer park, fire officials said. The noninjury blaze was contained by 4:15 p.m. that day.

Ultimately, nine mobile homes and 12 vehicles were destroyed by the flames, while 59 other mobile homes were damaged, according to fire officials.

“The devastation is very high because many people have lost things in the fire, and some have lost everything they own,” Perez said in a statement.

Other efforts by county departments to aid those who were affected by the fire include the:

• Riverside Health System, which provided emotional support to 58 families affected through its Behavioral Health mobile crisis teams and provided a health nurse for the shelter;

• Department of Public Social Services, which worked with the American Red Cross and school district to coordinate shelter operations;

• District Attorney’s Office, which supplied dogs to help search for potential victims;

• First 5 Riverside County, which provided support to children who were evacuated;

• Riverside County Department of Animal Services, which offered support and capacity to the city’s Animal Services; and

• Emergency Management Department, which provided guidance to city officials on emergency management matters and acted as a liaison between city and county departments, state and federal agencies and nonprofits.

“The City of Desert Hot Springs is grateful for the collaboration with our regional partners who banded together with us to provide much needed assistance to our residents devastated by this awful fire,” said Desert Hot Springs Mayor Scott Matas in a statement. “So many of our residents have lost everything, we are committed to ongoing assistance to those residents that have been affected.”

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