Sister: Brother killed in Foothills trailer fire

A man trapped by fire inside a fully-involved trailer home died Saturday, and a woman was flown to a Phoenix hospital in extremely critical condition. Neighbors called Rural/Metro Fire Department to 12155 S. Paula Ave. in the Foothills at 5:45 p.m.

The victim of the fire was Uwe Klette, according to his sister Silvia Wolff, who was grieving at the scene Saturday evening.

"They told me he's dead. He's still inside," Wolff said, crying and pointing to the smoldering trailer house.

The fire department confirmed Klette's death, but did not officially confirm his name or the name of the injured woman. Spokesman Mike Shelton said she was flown from Yuma Regional Medical Center to the Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix. Wolff identified the woman as her brother's girlfriend but could only recall her first name, Teresa.

Rescuers removed the female occupant of the trailer house rather quickly, but Klette remained inside even after the fire was extinguished.

"Due to the fire and the intense heat we're having a hard time locating him," said Rusty Leonard with Rural/Metro.

Klette remained inside the home as of 7:30 p.m. and authorities declined then to predict when his body would be removed.

Wolff said her brother was 45 years old and a native of Germany.

"He was a good person," she said, losing herself to tears. "My brother was a good person."

Leonard said the cause of the fire was not yet known early Saturday evening.

Neighbor Doug Goins said Rural/Metro was already on the scene by the time he realized the house three lots north of his was on fire.

"It was a lot of black smoke and flames shooting up about 15 to 20 feet," Goins said.

The neighbor added that he did know personally know the fire victims.

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Last updated July 7, 2007, at 6:35 p.m.