Posts Tagged ‘motor home’

It’s not much to look at — a thin strip of 84 no-frills campsites nestled between the beach and the residential area of north Morro Bay.

Even so, the campground at Morro Strand State Beach has a loyal following. Its main attractions are the scenic environs of Estero Bay and three miles of sparkling beaches to play on.

But the campground is set to close July 1 — at the height of the summer camping season — a victim of the state budget crisis and the need to cut $22 million over two years from the State Parks Department budget.

“It’s perfect for camping,” said Larry Weeks of Visalia as he parked his 35-foot Pace Arrow motor home at the campground. “I’d sure hate to see it close.”

Morro Bay city and business leaders are worried that closure of the campground will hurt the city’s economy. They say the closure could cost as much as $2.5 million a year.

This is based on estimates by the city that some 44,000 campers use the park annually and each spends about $58 in the local economy. In August, Morro Bay Mayor Bill Yates sent a letter to State Parks protesting the closure.

The city and Chamber of Commerce are working with State Parks to prevent the closure by finding a nonprofit group or concessionaire to run the campground, although no one has been found yet.

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An investigation continues into the cause of a blaze that engulfed a motor home on Patrick’s Point Drive early Sunday morning, leaving two dead and a young boy being treated for severe burns.

Cal Fire Cpt. Ivy Williams said someone reported the fire shortly before 1 a.m., and trucks responded to find a fully involved motor home fire in the Sounds of the Sea RV Park on the 3000 block of Patrick’s Point Drive.

Humboldt County Deputy Coroner Roy Horton said a family from Clearlake — a 43-year-old woman, her two children and her fiance — had just recently purchased the 1980s-model motor home and chose Patrick’s Point for its first outing.

”What started out as a happy event just turned into a tragedy,” he said.

Horton said the woman and her fiance, James Gerace, 55, were sleeping in the back “bedroom” area of the motor home, which was separated from the rest of the recreational vehicle with a thin partition. Shortly before 1 a.m., Horton said, the woman awoke to hear Gerace screaming and yelling. The pair immediately went to get the kids — 14-year-old Daniel Critser and a 4-year-old boy who was sleeping in a pull-down bunk in the motor home’s cab.

Horton said the woman was able to battle through the flames and get her 4-year-old son, but the motor home’s side door wouldn’t open, its latches stuck in the aluminum framing that Horton surmised probably expanded or shifted due to the heat from the fire.

Horton said the woman ran to the back of the vehicle, her child in her arms, and was able to escape through a rear side window by first dropping her son out before climbing out herself. Gerace and Daniel weren’t able to make it out.

Horton said that when he arrived at the motorhome, which was in the park’s space No. 13, he found Gerace’s remains slumped against the rear side window with Daniel’s body in his lap.

”He was trying to pull him out,” Horton said. “It’s just a shame that he was so close to getting out, yet so far.”

Horton said that in his final panicked moments, Gerace tried to shoot out the large rear window of the vehicle, but wasn’t able to free himself. Bullets from Gerace’s gun, Horton said, hit a neighboring motor home, but luckily, no one was hurt.

Horton said that based on interviews with witnesses, it’s clear the fire spread very quickly. He noted that motor homes are generally filled with combustible materials, including propane tanks used to operate stoves and heaters.

”It went up really quickly,” he said. “We’re talking just a matter of a few minutes.”

The mother and the 4-year-old were transported to Mad River Community Hospital for treatment and were later flown to Shriner’s Hospital in Oakland, where the child was to receive further treatment, including skin grafts. Horton said the boy has second- and third-degree burns covering about 40 percent of his lower body.

”The cause is still under investigation,” Crist said. “As of right now, the fire appears to be accidental.”

While remnants of a smoke alarm were found in the motor home, Horton said the mother told him it never went off. Crist said investigators are working to determine if the smoke detector was functioning.

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About a mile into the woods at Hillsborough River State Park, Florida, the smell of fudge cookies baking wafts from a toaster oven outside Jack and Mary Lou Smith’s air-conditioned motor home.

A plastic windmill rendered motionless by the Florida heat decorates the campsite. There are a few tables, popup chairs and a radio.

For the summer, this is home.

“You can do anything here,” Mary Lou, 73, says, passing a plate of cookies to visitors. “You just better like doing it in the outdoors.”

The Smiths are campground hosts, volunteers who serve the park 32 hours a week in exchange for free utility hookups and a place to park their home on wheels, a 34-foot Fleetwood Bounder purchased in 1987.

Camp hosts keep the grounds clean, act as guides and help novice campers settle in. They scrub the restrooms, shoo off wild raccoons and round up visitors for campfire parties.

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