By Yoshiaki Nohara, Jackson Holtz and Alejandro Dominguez, Herald Writers
SNOHOMISH -- Maria "Sandra" Montaño was ready to start a new chapter of her life.
She and her sister bought an aging mobile home in Snohomish early last month for $4,000. Her daughter Ashley turned 7 on Sept. 22 and was about to attend a new school.
The 28-year-old single mother moved in Friday with Ashley and her younger daughter, Yareli, 4. Her own younger sister Petra "Claudia" Montaño, 25, was there, too.
The sisters, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, were among 15 siblings. They moved north to build a better life for the girls, their brother Miguel Angel Montaño Reynaga said Wednesday. Maria Montaño worked as a hostess at Mexican restaurants in the area.
"They came here to make progress," Montaño Reynaga said. "In Mexico the crisis was very hard. She wanted to make her daughters get ahead."
Their lives ended when a fire gutted the mobile home on Tuesday morning at the Snohomish Mobile Home and RV Park along Avenue D.
On Wednesday, officials continued to comb through the charred remains. The fire is considered suspicious. A specially trained dog detected signs of a flammable accelerant at the scene, but it is too early to know whether the blaze was deliberately set, officials said.
"It all needs to be analyzed in a laboratory setting," Snohomish Police Chief John Turner said during a press conference Wednesday. "That's going to take some time."
The fire is being investigated by Snohomish police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Washington State Patrol crime lab and Snohomish County fire marshals.
"We don't have an answer," Turner said. "What we do know is that we have a community very concerned."
Ashley, born in America, was about to start attending Riverview Elementary School. Her U.S. citizenship provided her mother a little help from the government, Montaño Reynaga said.
Ashley "liked coming here with us and playing with the toy kitchen stove. She was happy playing with everybody" at family reunions, he said.
Yareli was born in Mexico around the time when the girls' father died. Petra Montaño brought Yareli to America about a year and half ago, Montaño Reynaga said.
"They supported each other," he said of his sisters.
The family is planning a funeral at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Snohomish, said the Rev. Armando Guzmán. A Mass on Tuesday night drew about 60 people including family and friends of the victims.
"Some of the people are taking it very hard," Guzmán said.
The church is trying to set up a bank account to help the family with funeral expenses, he said.
Donation boxes already have appeared at several Mexican stores and restaurants around Monroe, Everett, Snohomish, Kirkland and Redmond.
The mobile home park where the fire broke out is full of older, single-wide mobile homes. There are 44 units on the property. It's right across Avenue D from the Snohomish fire station. Firefighters' quick response helped keep the fire from spreading to other units, officials said.
People who live at the park are concerned about the safety of their aging homes.
Elizabeth Thompson, 21, lives in space 2. An old electrical system caused a minor fire in her bedroom last year, Thompson said.
"It wasn't bad," she said. "But seeing what could've happened terrifies me."
The mobile home that burned Tuesday was roughly 40 years old. Most units at the park have outdated electrical systems; some owners don't have a smoke alarm, Thompson said.
"We are terrified," she said. "We want help. We don't know how."
Park residents struggle to make ends meet, said Jack Crabbs, 69, who owns a mobile home with his son David Crabbs, 49. The family struggles with ants, which sometimes swarm the area.
"This is not an extravagant resort or something," Jack Crabbs said. For many, it is the only place they can afford to live.
City officials are scheduled to meet privately with park residents tonight, hoping to address their concerns.
"This park has been traumatized," Turner said.
A meeting for the larger community is being planned for Wednesday, Turner said. The location is yet to be decided.
As investigators were wrapping up work Wednesday, items they'd removed earlier sat outside.
Among the objects taken from the home: A stroller with seats for two children.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
