Cause Of Deadly Mobile Home Fire Under Investigation

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The Broward Sheriff's Office is trying to find out what caused a mobile home fire that killed two people Wednesday morning.

Neighbors describe the chaotic scene as they tried to rescue the people in the home at 1361 SW 44th Terrace, just off of State Road 441 south of Davie.

They said a mom, a dad, and their 12-year-old daughter live in the mobile home.

Neighbors and friends told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that the father was Armando Hernandez and the mother was Lidia Esther and they identified the daughter as Analida Hernandez. Broward Fire rescue has not officially identified those in the home.

Carolina Trundle, a close friend of the family, shared pictures of them with D'Oench and said, "I have three kids. I can't imagine something like this happening. I am in shock."

The fire started at 3 a.m. and neighbors smelled the smoke.

"My mom woke up and she was smelling smoke and we thought it was the air conditioning. So she opened up some windows to get some air. She checked outside...there was smoke coming from the house," said neighbor Aisha Oliveres. "She knocked, it was minor at first but quickly, in a few minutes, it started spreading."

"It's scary as hell," she said. "I don't want this experience to ever happen again. It is horrifying."

"Conditions deteriorated rapidly when they were inside that mobile home. They had to pull out in what we call a defensive operation after 5 or 6 minutes of searching for victims inside," said Mike Jachles with Broward County Fire Rescue.

Fire rescue says two were killed in the fire - a male and a female.

Although the identities of the victims have not been released, fire rescue confirms that they have located the third person who lives in the home. They won't say where that person was located and where that person is at this moment - only that the person is an adult.

"It's kind of sad. It's not something you expect around here," said neighbor Kenneth Colon who is 12-years-old. He lives down the street and he goes to the same school as the 12-year-old who neighbors said lives in that mobile home. He says she was in school Tuesday and he watched her walk home in the afternoon.

"She was a nice girl. She talked on the bus, talked to her friends. She really didn't get in trouble," said Colon.

Jachles said he was very concerned that there were no smoke alarms at the home.

"Had there been smoke alarms we might have had a very different outcome," he said. "I can't stress enough the importance of having smoke alarms. It is heartbreaking to know that the people who died in this fire lived here without smoke alarms."

Neighbors said the mother had mental health issues and had been in and out of the hospital. Authorities won't comment on that, only saying that the fire is under investigation and they are using state and local resources to look for clues.