PORT ANGELES — A young man who was about to move into his own place for the first time this week will instead be homeless beginning Sunday, said his friends, who have been trying to help him find a new home and replace some of his belongings.
Brandon Manley, 21, of Sequim had spent weeks cleaning and repairing a white-and-green mobile home at 43 Roll Inn Park Drive in Port Angeles and was in the process of moving in when the place caught fire Tuesday and was consumed by flames within a half-hour.
“He worked so very hard to clean that place up and make it livable, and was so very excited to have the power turned on and be able to move in,” said Chandra Payne, a friend of Manley’s.
Instead, he’s left with the belongings that remained in the home he was in the process of vacating, Payne said.
Payne set up a GoFundMe site Thursday morning asking for donations to raise $5,000 to help Manley replace some of his belongings and pay for the expenses of getting into a new home.
To donate funds online, go to www.gofund.me/kndy9s.
As of late Thursday afternoon, no donations had been made.
Manley has been left without a destination this weekend and no money after investing it into moving into the mobile home, Payne said.
She said his friends and co-workers cannot take him in because they don’t have space for an additional roommate.
The cause of the fire is believed to have been an electrical fault in the water heater, said Chief Sam Phillips of Clallam County Fire District No. 2.
Power in the trailer had just been turned on, and residents reported they had noticed some excessive heat and sagging in the insulation in the wiring, Phillips said.
Officially, the cause will be listed as “undetermined” because the fire did too much damage to determine the details on why the heater’s wiring failed, he said.
The fire destroyed the mobile home and an adjacent storage shed, and damaged the siding of a nearby house.
________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.