--
A Tucson man severely burned in a mobile home fire Sunday evening was flown to a Phoenix hospital for treatment.
The man, in his 40s, was engulfed in flames when he stumbled out of his burning doublewide mobile home and collapsed in the yard just after 5:30 p.m. A neighbor and an off-duty Tucson Police Department officer who was passing by used a blanket and a garden hose to douse the flames, said Capt. Adam Goldberg of the Northwest Fire District. The victim's name has not been released.
The man was taken to University Medical Center before being flown by helicopter to the Maricopa Medical Center for treatment of his burns. The man has third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body, Goldberg said.
The home, in the 1200 block of West Wabash Street just south of La Canada Drive and River Road, is owned by the burn victim's father. As far as fire officials know, the victim was the only person in the home at the time of the fire, Goldberg said.
It took firefighters 15 minutes to extinguish the blaze. The 20-by-70 foot mobile home was completely destroyed. Investigators from the fire department and Pima County Sheriff's Department continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
A black column of smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, Goldberg said.
