A neighbor heard what sounded like an explosion before finding the trailer on fire.
A 60-year-old man died early Wednesday (Jan. 24) in a fire that engulfed a travel trailer in Hammond, the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s Office reported. The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of his family members.
Firefighters responded to a report of a fire at 19096 Gorman Road shortly after midnight and found the « fifth wheel » travel trailer ablaze. Such bi-level trailers are constructed with a raised forward section and are designed to be towed with a pickup truck.
After suppression efforts were completed, firefighters located the body of the victim in the trailer. A preliminary autopsy report from the Tangipahoa Parish Coroner indicates that the victim died of smoke inhalation.
Investigators learned that a neighbor heard a sound resembling an explosion and found the trailer to be fully engulfed in flames, the Fire Marshal’s Office reported. While the cause remains under investigation, investigators established that the fire originated within the trailer, which had no working smoke alarms.
