HURRICANE — A malfunctioning refrigerator touched off a smoldering fire Monday morning at Canyon View RV park, leaving a Hurricane resident homeless and the aluminum skin of his trailer peeled back and singed.

“An individual was in his trailer,” Hurricane Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Nick Wright said. “He was sleeping in his trailer and said he smelled smoke.”

The trailer owner saw smoke coming out of the refrigerator area and tried to put out the fire with several fire extinguishers, then called the fire department just before 10:30 a.m.

Smoke and flames were visible when firefighters arrived, but they were able to put the fire out quickly and isolate it to the refrigerator area. But in doing so they had to peel back the aluminum skin of the trailer to get all the sparks and small fires out of the wall.

“The refrigerator quit working two days ago,” Reece Thompson, the trailer owner said. “I was messing around, pushing the buttons on it … went to bed, smelled smoke and tried three different fire extinguishers.”

Thompson isn’t sure where he’s going to go now.

“I’m trying to figure that out now,” Thompson said, adding that his trailer is a total loss.

But in the midst of all that, Thompson had one more worry – for his neighbors.

“What I need to do is figure out a way to get this cleaned up. So the rest of the community doesn’t have to look at it.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Wright said.

Hurricane Valley Fire and Rescue and Hurricane Police responded to the incident.