by Judy Reed

A Cedar Springs woman was out hunting for pokemon in the wee hours of Friday morning when she spotted a trailer on fire as she returned home.

Kelli Destrampe reported the fire at 401 Sarah Street, in Cedar Springs Mobile Estates, right around 2:30 a.m. Both Cedar Springs and Sand Lake Fire Departments responded to the scene. A Kent County Sheriff deputy and Rockford Ambulance also responded.

“The came in as a report of a trailer fire well involved, and it was unknown if anyone was inside,” explained Cedar Springs Fire Chief Marty Fraser. He said they had the fire knocked down in the first 10-15 minutes.

There were three other mobile homes surrounding the burning one—one on each side and one behind it. “We did have three exposures, and it melted some of their siding. It could have been such a mess if we didn’t have it knocked down quickly. There could have been three other trailers burning,” remarked Fraser. 

Fraser said the park owned the trailer and they were getting ready to remove it. No one was living there and there were no utilities hooked up, so the cause was not electrical.

Fraser is ruling the fire as “suspicious but undetermined.”

Cedar Springs Mobile Estates is offering a $5,000 reward for the arrest, testimony against, and conviction of the perpetrators responsible for the suspicious fire. If you have any kind of information, please contact the CSME Office at (616) 696-0820 or the Kent County Sheriff’s Office at (616) 632-6100.

Pokemon Go!—the new game for Android and iPhone users—has taken off like a wildfire across the nation since its release last week, even here in Cedar Springs. Kids and adults of all ages can be seen on streets and sidewalks in Cedar Springs looking for Pokemon. The Post has been a popular stopping site for those wandering the neighborhood, and we were told that we are one of several Poke Stops in the augmented reality game, which layers a digital word over the real one. Poke Stops are historical landmarks or other interesting local sites where you find free items—poke balls, potions, Pokemon eggs, and other items you need.

If you haven’t played Pokemon Go! yet, it will give you a good reason to get out and walk around and see what’s happening in your neighborhood.