Somerton house fire destroys home, no injuries reported

A single-story home near Tierra Del Sol Elementary School was destroyed after a fire broke out just after 3 a.m. Wednesday in the Ramona Street and Somerton Avenue area of Somerton.

The Somerton/Cocopah Fire Department said crews arrived to find the house fully involved. Because the fire had already taken hold, the department called in mutual aid from the San Luis Fire Department and the Yuma Fire Department to help bring it under control.

Somerton/Cocopah and Yuma firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the structure was declared a total loss. No one was inside the home when crews arrived, and no civilian injuries were reported. Firefighters were also unharmed. While the incident was underway, San Luis firefighters provided backfill at the station so local coverage could continue.

The fire occurred near Tierra Del Sol Elementary School, which is listed at 1002 S. Somerton Ave., placing the scene in a residential corridor close to the campus. In a city of 14,197 people, according to the 2020 census, the response showed how quickly local agencies can be forced to lean on one another when a house fire escalates before dawn.

The cause remains under investigation. For Somerton firefighters, the latest loss comes after another residential fire in the city on April 16, when crews responded to a home fire in the area of West Spring Street. That house was also considered a total loss, and two dogs were rescued.

Taken together, the two incidents underscore how fast residential fires can move through older neighborhoods and how dependent smaller Yuma County fire agencies are on fast mutual aid from San Luis and Yuma when a scene outgrows the first engine company.