LORAIN — Raul Sanchez yelled, cursed and punched a tractor when he arrived at Spiegelberg Orchards to see his home of nearly 15 years burned to the ground Monday after a space heater apparently started a fire in the living room.

Sanchez has worked for owner Ken Spiegelberg for nearly 15 years and his housing was provided as part of his job as a jack-of-all-trades at the farm.

Sanchez’ son, Luis Sanchez, said his father was so upset because the trailer and its contents — an estimated $30,000 loss — “it’s everything he has.”

Luis arrived at his father’s home behind the farm’s main buildings to pick up crab legs his father had cooked for lunch. When he opened the door, heat and smoke rolled over him.

Luis called his father who urged him to go inside and try to find the fire and put it out. When he couldn’t, Luis ran inside the farm’s office where 911 was called.

“There was so much heat,” Luis said, adding it appeared a Lazy-boy chair and an ottoman were on fire.

According to Elyria Township Fire Chief Wayne Eppley, Raul Sanchez had an oil-filled space heater behind a couch in the living room. The space between the couch and wall is about two feet, Eppley said.

The trailer had baseboard heat, Spiegelberg said, adding he uses space heaters in his office during colder months, too.

Eppley urged people to “pay attention to manufacturer’s” terms of use, warnings and maintenance on space heaters. Most, Eppley said, require three feet of space on all sides.

Eppley said it appears the space heater started the fire in the living room, but it was too early in the investigation to determine if the space heater malfunctioned or if it caught the furniture on fire.

The fire remains under investigation.

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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