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An unexplained explosion and fire claimed the life of one adult at 5 a.m. Sunday morning during a blaze that engulfed a travel trailer parked next to a home in the 400 block of Linda Avenue at Fourth Street in Ripon.
Neighbors reported hearing what sounded like the crack of gunfire down the block, jumped out of bed and looked out the window to see flames towering above a home at the corner address that completely gutted the trailer and scorched the garage of the home.
Ripon PD public information officer Danny Sauer said the victim was not identifiable with the body being turned over to the San Joaquin County Coroner’s Office. He added that the identification of the individual could take up to several weeks.
Officer Sauer said police had ruled out foul play and couldn't say that natural gas build-up hadn’t caused what appeared to be a spontaneous inferno.
The charred remains of the trailer could be seen in the driveway of the home where it had been pulled away from the house and was left behind a chain-link fence. Little remained other than the frame at what was the base of the structure.
So tragic and sad.