News - Local News

POSTED: Friday, Jun. 12, 2009

Fire destroys Birch Bay garage, damages home

BIRCH BAY - A fire devoured a garage and caused more than $100,000 damage to a home in the 8000 block of Surf Place, but no one was injured.

The Friday, June 12, fire began in the garage and quickly spread to the adjacent doublewide home, said Tom Fields, chief of North Whatcom Fire and Rescue

A neighbor saw the fire and called 911 at about 1 p.m., Fields said. Firefighters with North Whatcom and Whatcom County Fire District No. 7 battled the blaze for about 40 minutes and were able to extinguish it in the house, although that was badly damaged from the smoke and heat, Fields said.

No one was home at the time, and the fire may have started from a welder or an electrical short in the welder's cord, Fields said.