March 28, 2008
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

ONE PERSON FOUND DEAD AT FIRE NEAR ORMOND BEACH

One person was found dead inside a mobile home near Ormond Beach that caught on fire early Friday morning. Firefighters along with Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to 2012 Linda Ave. after a 911 call about the fire was received at 12:45 a.m. The initial call indicated that someone may not have gotten out of the mobile home.

The structure was fully engulfed in flames when the first deputies got to the scene at 12:47 a.m. Units with Volusia County Fire Services began arriving at 12:51 a.m. Fire units from Holly Hill and Ormond Beach also responded to the blaze. Three adults lived in the mobile home. When firefighters were able to make their way into the structure, they found the body of a 20-year-old Joseph Searles. He was pronounced dead at 1:25 a.m. The other two occupants of the mobile home at the time of the fire were the victim’s mother, 38-year-old Tonja Touchton and Touchton’s boyfriend, 40-year-old James Porn. Touchton sustained injury to her right hand, but didn’t require hospitalization. Porn wasn’t injured.

Two nearby mobile homes, including one that sustained heat damage from the flames, were evacuated. The Red Cross is assisting residents displaced by the fire. The Sheriff’s Office along with the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the death. The cause of the fire being investigated by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.