Fireplace Fire Destroys Duran Family Trailer in El Rancho

  Ben Duran and wife Cheryl with children Kaylee, Kristen and Benjamin

Ben Duran had just completed a remodeling project on his trailer in El Rancho when tragedy struck on the evening of January 18.

“We started a fire in our fire place and about 10 minutes later we saw smoke coming out of the ceiling,” Ben’s wife Cheryl said. “Ben immediately got on the roof with a hose and pick and I called 911.”

Ben stood on the roof. He tried to pick a hole in the roof so he could get water to the fire, but he felt the roof giving in.

“I didn’t even have a ladder,” Ben said. “I just jumped off the roof before it gave in.”

The Duran children escaped the house shoeless and in their pajamas. The fire trucks didn’t arrive until about 30 minutes after the 911 call and by that time fire had destroyed the trailer.

For the time being, the Durans are living with family, but their future is uncertain. Ben is unemployed, Cheryl is working and going to nursing school and being a mother to their three beautiful children: Kaylee, 4; Kristen, 2; and Benjamin 1.

“We have to demolish the trailer, haul it off and start all over,” Ben, a 25-year-old graduate of PVHS said. After this, I know I don’t want to live in a trailer. Maybe we’ll build a small house. I don’t know.”

Although the Durans had insurance, they insurance might not cover the fire because when the policy was purchase they didn’t have the fireplace installed.

Ben said he maxed out his credit cards and spent all their savings on the remodel and that coupled with his being unemployed, plus the fire has left the family in dire straits.

If you would like to help the family, monetary donations can be made at any Los Alamos National Bank branch.  Just tell them you want to donate to the Duran Fire Fund.

A benefit pancake breakfast is scheduled for March 7 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Hall from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.