Hundreds Of Seniors Without Power At Hemet Mobile Home Park

HEMET (CBSLA.com) — Seniors at a Hemet mobile home park have been without electricity and water since Saturday.

The outage happened at London Spires, a 165-unit park.

Manager Larry Boles said the power went out after an electrical distribution panel overloaded.

"These doors were closed.  We were very lucky they were closed because they were on fire.  This stuff is about 42 years old," he said.

Many residents, including Irene Chase, said not having power is unbearable in the above 90 degree temperatures.

The 79-year-old uses a motorized wheelchair, which means she couldn't power her chair or her oxygen machine because of the outage.

"I've been, since birth, asthmatic.  And that's why I need the oxygen," she said. "I'll sleep a few hours.  I'm just plain exhausted."

Chase, who lives on Social Security, had to buy a generator, extension cords, and gas to keep her fans, oxygen machine and wheelchair running.

"I don't have (any) kids here to stay with.  I really don't.  I don't have a friend to stay with either," she said.

Some residents, however, are taking the situation in stride.

"The owner is in Sacramento.  He says we're going to do whatever we have to do to get that park up and running," said resident Dale Spurlin.

The management brought in two generators Sunday to hopefully power all the homes by Tuesday.