Firefighters battle two fires in one day

Published 11:45 am Wednesday, March 11, 2015

From the perspective of firefighters, March 5 may not have been unusually busy.

Just after 11:30 a.m. crews from the Valley Regional Fire Authority, South King Fire and Rescue and the Kent Fire Department Regional Fire Authority responded with seven engines, two aid cars, two brush trucks, two command vehicles and one tender truck to a brush fire off westbound Highway 18, west of State Route 167.

Firefighters working from two different places to put out the fire — it was moving up the hill, threatening Mountain View Drive — needed two hours to bring it under control. In that time, crews moved to the top of the hill near Mountain View Drive to focus on hot spots. As of 3:50 p.m. crews were still on the scene mopping up spot fires.

Brush trucks from King County Fire District No. 20 and King County Fire District 44 provided help. The fire, which forced the closure of Mountain View Drive near Mountain View Cemetery, was not investigated, according to the VRFA.

At 4:50 p.m., 11 firefighters responded to 295 East Main St. downtown to a report of smoke in the eaves of American Lighting. According to Kimberly Terhune, public information officer for the VRFA, the fire was minor, involving mostly burning insulation in the concealed space above the ceiling inside the store.

“It was mostly smoke damage. There was very little fire,” Terhune said. “The investigator said it was accidental electrical faults. Firefighters did what is called ‘pulling the ceiling’ to access where most of the heat signatures were coming from. There was no water damage, it was mostly smoke from the paper backing on insulation.”

Owner Susan Smith watched events from across East Main.

“We just smelled smoke. I thought it was from outside,” she said.

Investigators estimated damage at about $10,000. There was no damage to Comstock’s Bindery & Bookshop next door.