Three people have been temporarily displaced in Kunkletown after winds kicked up embers from a trash fire, setting their mobile home ablaze.

The call came in at 6:19 p.m. Tuesday for the home at 510 Ocean Drive. The mobile home is owned by Shirley Serfass, who lives in another home on the property. Her son, Matt, and two others reside in the 40-year-old trailer.According to Kunkletown fire Chief Leon Frable Jr., the occupants were burning trash when the winds kicked up, sending embers into the wooden skirting around the base of the trailer. A fire started in the skirting and began to burn underneath the trailer. The structure is on a slope, and the crawl space beneath it is only 12 to 30 inches high."We had a heck of a time," Frable said. "We couldn't really crawl under the thing. We had to cut pieces of the flooring to get to it."Another cause for concern was a nearby two-car garage about 4 feet from the mobile home.Frable called for mutual aid from Polk Township Volunteer Fire Company in Kresgeville and West End Fire Company in Brodheadsville, which dispatched personnel and trucks."We had to do a lot with saws, cutting into the floor and putting out the hot spots," Frable said. "We were there for three or four hours before we got everything extinguished. We did save a lot of the clothing and personal belongings. A lot of the areas had no water damage or smoke damage."He said they were able to save about 80 percent of the home.Frable said that was possible because the trailer, which is about 60 feet long and 12 feet wide, has bedrooms on either end.A small spare bedroom had flames come up through the floor. In the living room, hallway and the kitchen, firefighters cut six holes in the floor to battle the blaze beneath the trailer. Flames climbed up the wall on the back side of the house, and firefighters had to peel away the metal shell to fight the fire, which had begun to burn the insulation."It was coming up through the walls. Sometimes it was really hard to extinguish, but we did keep working at it and got it extinguished," Frable said.He said the displaced residents were able to stay with Shirley Serfass. They are working on cleaning up the damage today so that they will be able to move back in."I think everything went as good as it could go with these conditions."There is currently no burn ban in place in Kunkletown."We just ask everyone to be careful because of the wind," Frable said, "and not leave any burning unattended."