Lake Stevens Fire District was busy responding to three separate house fires last week, the first of which was a home at 2310 Hartford in downtown Lake Stevens on Sunday, May 30 at 10:48 a.m.

A driver was passing by the home when he saw the fire through a window. He stopped and asked neighbors to call 911. No one was in the home at the time.

The house, built a century ago, was filled with intense heat and smoke.
“The fire was difficult because it was built in the early 1900s. In a lot of these old homes there is no fire blocking in the wall so the fire moves quickly from one room to another,” Lake Stevens Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said. “The cause is undetermined at this point. We haven’t come to a conclusion as to what the cause was and it was contained to a single room.”

On Memorial Day, firefighters were called to a home at 2912 South Lake Road.
The fire was inside a small bedroom.

“We are looking at a small refrigerator or right behind the refrigerator,” Marshall explained.
The occupant of that bedroom was out-of-town at the time of the fire. Everyone in the home was able to escape after breaking down the bedroom door and using a garden hose to contain the fire.
“All of the alarms went off and the people all evacuated,” Marshall said.

On Friday, June 4, a house fire  broke out on the 1900 block of Machias Road around 4:50 a.m.
When firefighters arrived at the scene a man was trying to get out of the second floor where firefighters rescued him by using their ladder truck. The man told them that two more people were inside of the house.
“When we arrived there was actually nothing showing apart from the boarder caught in the second story because smoke had filled the hallway,” Marshall said. “We rescued him out of the second story window.”
The woman in the home was able to walk out of the front door, however, another man was found unconscious inside the bedroom where the fire started.

“She was able to come out on her own and exit the building,” Marshall said. “The man was not responsive immediately so they initiated CPR and did gain simple pulses and immediately sent him to Everett Hospital. They transported him to Harborview Medical Center.”

The man suffered second and third degree burns on his right arm and is listed in critical condition.
The fire started in the man’s bedroom where it was contained. However, the smoke and heat was intense.
“We basically ruled out electrical,” he explained. “We know that smoking and alcohol were involved, which we found in the room of origin. Everything is pointing to a cigarette that was found on a coach which was being used as a bed.”

Smoke alarms did go off in each of these residences and all three of these fires are accidental.


 

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