Kitchen fire destroys Manchester mobile home

Hot cooking oil left unattended on a stove triggers a fire that leaves a Manchester woman's mobile home in ruins.

Police said that officers arriving at the Pine Ridge dwelling on Walden Way at about 4:15 PM Monday found it unoccupied and engulfed in flames.

According to authorities, the 58-year-old home owner said she began heating the oil, and then becamed sidetracked by a brief distraction, then returned to the kitchen to find flames spreading beyond a fire extinguisher's ability to tamp them down.

Volunteer firefighters from the Manchester, Whiting, Ridgeway and Lakehurst departments knocked back the blaze. A building inspector deemed the unit uninhabitable.

The fire is not considered suspicious, but Detective Adam Emmons and the Ocean County Fire Marshall's staffers are tracing the cause and origin. The victim found living space with her daughter in Bayville.

Mancheser police issue a reminder to check smoke detector batteries at least twice a year, and to never leave food unattended while cooking.