PRICE, Utah — In the span of a week, two Utah families were left without a home after two separate fires at a trailer park in Price.
The first took place July 15 at the Circle C Trailer Park.
Holly Guerrero is a family friend of Lorena Lares. She said Lares lived at the park with her husband and four children — one of whom was woken up from a nap by their cat.
"Once she ran out, and then the dad and the boy [ran] outside, [they] realized that it was burning," said Guerrero.
She said the entire family was safe and unharmed during the fire. However, the place they called home for more than a decade was destroyed.
"Very much devastated," Guerrero said. "It's affected them, terribly affected them."
Unfortunately, the Lares family's dog and cat both died in the fire.
"The only thing that they have after this fire is the clothes that they had on their back and their shoes. Whatever they had on them," said Guerrero.
Just eight days later, a few trailers down, another home caught fire around 5:45 a.m. on Saturday.
Price City Fire Chief Fitzgerald Petersen said the people living there were able to get out safely as well. However, they lost both their dogs due to the fire.
"They're both considered a total loss," Petersen said.
He said in his 32 years fighting fires, he hasn't seen two fires happen so close together like this.
"I've been doing this for the two different departments — three, actually — I've never had two completely involved structure fires on the same street, eight days apart from one another," Petersen said.
FOX 13 News asked Petersen if they believed there were any suspicious circumstances regarding these fires.
"We don't have any reason to have a connection yet, but that's why it's being investigated," he said.
Petersen said the investigation is being done by the State Fire Marshal's Office.
Guerrero said the Lares family is currently staying in a bedroom at a friend's house about an hour away in Green River.
"What they're trying to do is they're wanting to figure out a way to be able to secure another place, which has been difficult," said Guerrero.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family.
FOX 13 News reached out to the trailer park about the fires, but we have not heard back at this time.
