VERO BEACH — A swift-moving fire at the Southgate Village mobile home community just east of U.S 1 in Vero Beach claimed the life of a wheelchair-bound resident Sunday morning.

Richard Froah, 63, was killed when his mobile home on lot 59 in the park, at 720 12th St., caught fire shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday morning, according to next-door neighbor Darlene Madigan, who lives at lot 60.

“I was sound asleep with my windows open when my bedroom filled up with black smoke,” said Madigan. “If it wasn’t for my neighbors knocking on the door, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

Marc LeGault and his wife, who live at lot 84, alerted Madigan to the fire when they saw smoke pouring from Froah’s mobile home.

“At the beginning, the flames must have been eight- or 10-feet high,” said LeGault. “The man always sits right in the living room where the flames were. In 10 minutes, it was all finished for the poor man.”

According to eyewitness reports, several residents of the mobile home park tried to rescue Froah but were unable to do so because of the flames.

Madigan said the Froah lived alone in the mobile home but that his elderly mother also resides in Southgate Village. Although Froah wore a life-alert button around his neck, the alarm was not activated, Madigan said. The fire is under investigation by Indian River County Fire Rescue and the County Fire Marshal Brian Nolan.

Battalion Chief Norman Wells said when fire crews arrived from Station 1 on Old Dixie Highway, the mobile home was already engulfed in flames.

“It was pretty intense fire conditions,” said Wells. “When we first responded, we concentrated on rescue but we were unable to get in because of the heat conditions.”

Nolan said the investigation could take several days but the scene is being treated like a crime scene.

“We have to be certain that there was no foul play involved,” said Nolan. “Whether there’s a fatality or injury, to have to rule that out. We owe it to the victim.”

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 8:42 am and is filed under Indian River County, Vero Beach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.