Fire destroys house

Clovis firefighters work to control a trailer fire Thursday at 1217 Sunrise Blvd. in Clovis. (Staff photo: Eric Kluth)

A Clovis man is being held at the county jail after claiming he started a fire that gutted one trailer and severely damaged another Thursday afternoon on Sunrise Boulevard, police said.

The man is in protective custody for mental problems in the Curry County Adult Detention Center, jail officials said. He had not been charged with any crime by Thursday night, jail officials said.

Police said the man told them he burned a trailer he was living in at 1217 Sunrise Blvd. and another nearby trailer.

“We’re still looking into his motive for it,” said Clovis police Detective Robert Telles.

No one was in the trailers at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported, officials with the Clovis Fire Department said.

Neighbors said the man had been living there for awhile, but they had never met him. Following the fire, police put the man in handcuffs and took him away in a patrol car, neighbors said.

Police and fire officials confirmed the man lived in one of the trailers, but he did not own it. The owner of both trailers was on the scene Thursday afternoon, Telles said. Telles did not provide the name of the owner and he could not be reached Thursday night.

Lt. Montie Powell of the Clovis Fire Department said his department received a call at 2:28 p.m. on a report of a grass fire, but once on scene they observed it to be a structure fire.

“It’s a total loss on both trailers,” Powell said. “How much that is (in dollars), I don’t know.”

Firefighters soaked a neighboring trailer first to protect it from catching on fire, and then they went to work on the bulk of the flame, bringing it down pretty fast, officials said.