MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - Police have used medical records to identify the two men who were killed in a Morehead City shed fire at the Willis Mobile Home park.
Police say Terry "Michael" Wray, 63 and Irvin "Bucky" Bryan, 65 were killed in the January 15 shed fire.
Neighbors told Nine On Your Side Wray was homeless, and had been living in the shed for some time doing odd jobs for the shed's owner Sam Guthrie. Guthrie says last spring he allowed Wray to live in the shed but after a few months, he asked Wray to leave. At the time of the fire he, along with the manager of the park say they told Wray repeatedly he was not allowd to live in the shed.
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - A Morehead City community is banding together to help make repairs to condemned homes in Willis Mobile Home Park.
A community-wide meeting last night ended with results.
Anyone living in a condemned mobile home can stay as long as their homes are brought up to code.
One day later, community organizations from around Morehead City are lining up to help.
Family Promise of Carteret County is working with area churches to find qualified people to make repairs.
City officials will return to Willis Mobile Home Park on Monday to assess what repairs need to be made to each unit. From there, residents will have 10 days to make the necessary changes before re-inspection.
Julie Moore, owner of Willis Mobile Home Park is confident that the condemned homes can be repaired.
The owners of the trailers are responsible for making the repairs. If a tenant is renting from a landlord, then the landlord has the option to either make the repairs or tear down the building.
Family Promise will help find temporary housing for people forced to move out if landlords choose not to repair their properties.
After Monday's assessment, inspectors will be at the mobile home park Tuesday and Thursday to answer any questions home owners or tenants have about making repairs to the 16 homes that have been condemned.
Home owners in the mobile home park can choose whomever they'd like to make the repairs, but plumbing and electrical repairs must be done by a liscenced contractor and pass inspection by city Code Enforcement Officers.
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - It's good news tonight for the families who’s mobile homes were condemned in Morehead City after a shed fire that killed two people who were squatting there. City officials say, for now, they are not being kicked out.
City leaders met with the Willis Mobile Home Park community to discuss what their options are.
Dozens of families packed the St. Andrews Church in Morehead City to try to understand why their homes are being condemned.
City code enforcement inspectors have been doing a sweep of the Willis Mobile Home Park, but with a majority Hispanic population, many of the home owners had no idea what was going on.
So community volunteers explained everything in Spanish.
And the families were glad to hear the news. The city decided they were not going to be forced to leave their homes.
"If we posted their house we want them to know they can continue to live there but it would be at their own risk," said Linda Staab, Morehead City Planning Director.
Staab says each occupant will be given a specific list of what needs to be repaired. They then have 10 days to make those repairs until they are re-inspected.
"If the repairs haven’t been made and the hearing is held the occupant or the owner would have the opportunity to meet wit the building inspector and talk about where they are on their repairs," said Staab.
Then depending on the outcome of that meeting, the building inspectors will decide if the families will have to leave their homes.
Also at the meeting were several organizations, churches, and others from the community have stepped up to assist theses families.
“The city is really working with people to try and get their homes fixed up, there’s a process that one has to go through in serving papers and understanding what's wrong so that buys us all the time to bring the wrap around services that will help these people," said Joan Cantor, Director of Family Promise, a group made up of nearly 50 churches that take charge of organizing all of the help being offered by members of the community. "These are all working families, these are not people on welfare these are people who are working paying their rent paying their electric bills and they are our neighbors."
City leaders say their goal isn't to kick anyone out of their homes, but they have to enforce safe living conditions.
26 of the nearly 75 units in the mobile home park have been inspected, and 16 of those were condemned.
City officials say they will continue to inspect the rest of the homes, in the coming weeks.
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - Dozens of families had their homes condemned in Morehead City and tonight, city officials will have a meeting to explain the code violations with their home.
The meeting starts at 7pm at St Andrews Episcopal church.
It's open to anyone who may have concerns on whether or not their home meets code and will include photos of some of the most common violations.
Wednesday, city officials began inspecting homes in the Willis Mobile Home Park after media reports of people living in storage facilities and other unsafe homes.
This comes after two people were killed in a shed fire.
Police have yet to identify the bodies, but an autopsy shows they died of smoke inhalation
Now community members are stepping in to assist with the language barrier that exists with some of the residents.
People 9 On Your Side talked with are glad the city stepped in to make sure the housing is safe, but they question the way they went about it doing it.
Susan Guijarro is just one of several volunteers who received phone calls from panicked residents of the Willis Mobile Home Park.
City inspectors inspected dozens of homes, condemning many of them throughout the park due to what the city called life safety violation.
Guijarro says she thinks it's a good thing to make sure families are living in safe housing. She believes the city could have done more to communicate with residents.
"Maybe if they would have contacted the community leaders or organizations….that would have been ideal, because they really don't know what the sign means,” said Guijarro.
Linda Staab supervises the city’s two building inspectors. 9 On Your Side asked her to explain what her team did to make sure non-English speaking residents understood what the sign meant.
"When we came out here we did have a Spanish speaking officer and the inspector did explain to people what was wrong…I understand from last night there was still a lot of confusion,” said Staab.
Confusion some say could have been avoided if only the city tapped into community resources.
Guijarro says it took her several calls to the police and fire department before she was finally able to get answers about what the sign means.
And once the word got out that families were potentially displaced other volunteers including the Hispanic liaison from Carteret County Schools stepped in to help translate and ensure families understand what they need to do to get their homes up to code.
Here at the park, some homes are privately owned and others are rentals.
Some good news, several families whose homes were condemned are back in their homes tonight thanks to community volunteers and neighbors helping each other out.
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - Dozens of families are being forced to find a new place to live today after the city condemned a slew of homes in a Morehead City mobile home park.
The city began their investigation into unfit living conditions after a fire in a storage shed killed two people, who were reportedly living the shed.
A 9 On Your Side investigation later uncovered reports of other people living in sheds and makeshift rooms throughout the mobile homes.
City officials say those facilities were deemed unsafe.
It's a tough situation for everyone involved. Families, who don't have much income, say these homes are better than being homeless. But after two people were killed, city officials say they have to enforce the law.
Wednesday morning around 10, both of the cities building inspectors, escorted by police went door to door inspecting homes and sheds. They were looking for things like running water, bathroom facilities, heat, working smoke detectors. And if these items weren't in working order the property was condemned, meaning the families would have to immediately vacate the facility.
Representatives from the city say the sweep of the Willis Mobile Home Park is just one of many to come in the next few weeks.
And that protecting lives is why they decided to take action, but others say they waited too late and now dozens of families have no where to go.
"It breaks my heart,” said Shelby Moore, who’s family owns mobile home park. “It breaks heart."
"We have been invited in we have been asked to evaluate these structures,” said Randy Martin, City Manager. “The tenants have given us permission to come in and check their properties. We would not be doing our jobs if we allow those conditions to continue because another tragedy could occur at any time."
As far as resources for the families, Martin says each family was given information on public housing and other possible resources.
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (WNCT) - We're learning more about the circumstances surrounding the death of two men in a Carteret County fire.
At around 8 Sunday night, fire crews responded to a call of a storage shed fire.
When they arrived, it was engulfed in flames in the Willis Mobile Home Park in Morehead City.
Morehead City Police say they have yet to identify the bodies, but people who live in the park say a man they know has been calling the shed home for months.
"What started the fire, I do not know at this point, I know that I could have been prevented,” said Julie Moore, manager of mobile home park.
Moore says no one should have been living in the shed in the first place.
Several neighbors, the manager and the shed’s owner believe a homeless man who'd been asked repeatedly to leave the property was one of the victims in the fire.
“The police department has come and told him the town has told him I've told him, the man that owns the shed has told him but no one has ever made him move,” said Moore.
9 On Your Side is withholding the name of the man until we receive confirmation of his identity from law enforcement.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but witnesses say it may have been started by a heater.
And while the shack has no running water or even a bathroom, there was electricity that was rigged from a nearby home.
The homeless man who many people believe was killed in the fire used to work for the shed's owner Sam Guthrie who owns several trailers in the park.
Guthrie declined to talk on camera, but he says he discovered the homeless man living in the shed last year and at first he allowed him to stay there for 3 months, but he then told him he had to leave. He also said he had no idea anyone was still living in the shed.
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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - Police tell Nine on Your Side two bodies were found as officials put out a shed fire in Morehead City Sunday night.
Police say they were called to the fire around 8:00 p.m. It was at the Willis Mobile Home Park in Morehead City. Officials say once fire crews got inside the shed, that's when the first of the two bodies was discovered. The second body was found further inside the shed.
Our crew on the scene talked with a neighbor who tells us a homeless man was living in the shed. The neighbor told us she was staying at her boyfriend’s place which is not too far from the shed. She heard screaming and came outside and saw the shed on fire. Were told her boyfriend tried to put the fire out with a garden hose. Shortly thereafter, police arrived on the scene.
Police tell us they don't know what caused the fire. They also haven't identified the bodies.
Both Morehead City police and the fire department responded.
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