Fire at Santa Cruz County mobile home park is being investigated as attempted murder

WATSONVILLE A fire at a mobile home unit in Watsonville early Tuesday is being investigated by local detectives as an attempted murder after the event sent three individuals to the hospital with burn injuries Related Articles East Bay casino safety guard charged with stealing ring Santa Clara County seeks help identifying two deceased Pat Tillman s brother used grocery store starter logs to set car post office on fire court docs say Homicides and thefts decline in Antioch according to police Suspect allegedly laughed before firing fatal shot in killing of East Bay dog walker City of Watsonville Masses Information Officer Michelle Pulido mentioned during a morning media gaggle that units with the Watsonville Fire Department responded to reports of a structure fire around a m within the Portola Heights Mobile Home Park off Crespi Way Upon arriving at the scene of the occurrence the first responders discovered police officers had already arrived and were helping with evacuations as the fire continued to engulf the unit Total firefighters were numbered at approximately and they were able to get the fire under control by about a m Right now our firefighters and the police department are working together to try to determine the cause and the origin of the fire declared Pulido about two hours after the fire had been extinguished According to a subsequent social media post from the Watsonville Police Department they were called to the scene due to indications that the fire had been set intentionally Preliminary investigative findings allege that -year-old Duane Hawkins arrived at the home and started the fire following an argument authorities noted in the community release Watsonville city firefighters respond to Tuesday morning s fire at Portola Heights Mobile Home Park Shmuel Thaler Santa Cruz Sentinel Watsonville police officers tape off the area around Tuesday morning s fire Shmuel Thaler Santa Cruz Sentinel Firefighters move a hose along Crespi Way as they respond to the fire at Portola Heights Mobile Home Park Tuesday morning Shmuel Thaler Santa Cruz Sentinel Show Caption of Watsonville city firefighters respond to Tuesday morning s fire at Portola Heights Mobile Home Park Shmuel Thaler Santa Cruz Sentinel Expand Three adults two men and one women were inside the residence when the fire occurred Pulido shared Two of those individuals were taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries but due to the sensitive nature of the incident personnel did not share additional information about their identities Tuesday Hawkins suffered moderate injuries and was taken to a Bay Area burn center for remedy According to Watsonville police he is expected to be charged with attempted murder and arson upon his release In addition to the Watsonville fire agency the response included trucks from Cal Fire s CZU unit North Monterey County Pajaro Dunes and Central fire protection districts Pulido revealed the Red Cross was also called in to provide any needed backing to neighbors that might have been impacted by the situation A meager hours after the blaze had been contained a pool of a red substance that appeared to be blood could be seen on the street outside of the mobile home along with a pile of clothes that were also coated in red Residents of the mobile home park communicated the Sentinel that there have been numerous past incidents of domestic disputes such as screaming and shouting at the home where the fire occurred Tuesday Residents disclosed multiple police vehicles were outside of the home as not long ago as Monday night Inquired about the possibility of a domestic dispute around a m Tuesday Pulido responded That s something that s still under assessment at the moment We do have detectives who were called to the scene that are trying to really piece together what happened this morning Pulido announced the unit that went up in flames was perfectly damaged and will be red tagged A lot of work is still needed here she announced The Santa Cruz County Fire Analysis Task Force was additionally called to the scene of the fire and will help with the scrutiny the release noted