Family escapes, pets perish in house fire on Auburn’s Lea Hill

Published 12:54 pm Monday, December 5, 2011

Three members of a family woke in time to escape their burning home east of Lea Hill in Auburn early Saturday morning.

King County Fire District 44 responded to the 911 call at 148th and Southeast 308 just before 5:15 a.m. All three people inside escaped through windows in the front and back of the house, but the fire destroyed the house and killed three dogs, a hedgehog and the family’s fish in a saltwater aquarium.

Tim Perciful, public information officer for District 44, said the father woke to the fire and alerted the others. He immediately retreated back to his bedroom and told his daughter and wife to get out of the house. They escaped through their bedroom window toward the back yard. The daughter escaped through her bedroom window toward the front yard.

The father tried to spray water on the fire with the garden hose but the hose was frozen. He went to the front yard to try another hose as his daughter called 911.

“I don’t know if they had a working smoke alarm, so I’m not sure what woke him,” Perciful said.

Mountain View Fire & Rescue’s first units arrived on scene to fine a fully involved residential fire. Firefighters were not able to make entry due to the size of the fire, so they attacked the fire from the outside. Crews worked for several hours with various hot spots in the attic, and other parts of the house.

According to fire investigators, a power strip started the fire, which caused an estimated $250,000 in damage. Multiple computers and a space heater had been plugged into the strip, but what role that played remains uncertain.

The fire extended to the neighbor’s house causing minor damage.

The Red Cross and neighbors are helping the family. AAA came out to get new keys made for their vehicles, since they were lost in the fire.

The family said they did have insurance, which will help replace many of their belongings.