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Fire at mobile home park sends 2 to hospital

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Crews battled a large fire early Wednesday morning at a mobile home park west of Lantana that sent two people to the hospital.

The fire occurred around 2:15 a.m. at Lantana Cascade Mobile Home Park located off of South Congress Avenue near Lantana Road.

RELATED: Pictures from the scene

When fire crews arrived on scene the mobile home was fully engulfed in flames. The closest fire hydrant didn't have enough power to fight the fire. Unlike typical fire hydrants the six in the Lantana Cascade mobile home park pull from a nearby lake.

Instead of pumping out 1,200 gallons of water per minute, they only pump out about 300 gallons per minute. It was not enough the battle the mobile home blaze early this morning.

"We know that if we ever get a fire in here or the other mobile home parks you have the tender come in from a distance to be able to give you your water supply," explained Palm Beach Fire Rescue Captain Adam Eaton.

Multiple fire trucks carrying hundreds of gallons of water were used to fight the fire until a tender truck carrying 3,000 gallons of water showed up.

"It's one of the things, you know, that we have to adapt and overcome," Eaton explained. "We're not always going to have perfect conditions, but we do the best with what we have."

Sergio Santiago lives across the street from what's left of the mobile home. He says he's concerned about the fire hydrant situation.

"Yeah it was scary," Santiago said. "If the rain didn't come in to assist the firefighters, it probably would've got more out of hand. I don't know if you can see right there it kind of burned off the paint on their house," he said pointing across the street.

Santiago said his friends, a mother, her boyfriend and two adult daughters live in the home. He says everyone made it out, but two of Santiago's friends were hurt.

"The mother Maureen trying to save her daughters she ran into the fire, but her boyfriend pulled her out for anything bad you know could happen to her," Santiago recalled. "There was a big explosion too because of the propane tank. The boyfriend took as many propane tanks out of the way of the house but he didn't come for one more that he left."

The mobile home is a total loss. The side of a neighbor's house was also damaged. The Red Cross is helping the family of four who lost everything in the fire.
 

Investigators determined the fire started by accident in the bedroom.