BELLINGHAM-Four members of a Happy Valley family were at Harborview Burn Center in Seattle on Sunday, Jan. 1, after suffering serious burns and smoke inhalation in an early morning fire.
Joseph MacGregor was listed in critical condition at Harborview. His wife Jennifer was listed in serious condition, as were daughters Willow, 10, and Summer, 13.
Bellingham Fire Chief Bill Boyd said the first firefighters to arrive were Engine 2 Capt. Danny Anderson, driver Ryan Heerspink and firefighter Michael Johnson. Boyd said the three men braved the smoke and flames to save Jennifer MacGregor and her daughters.
The blaze occurred after 4 a.m. in a small, one-story duplex home at 1208 24th St., about two blocks south of Happy Valley Elementary School, where Willow is in fifth grade.
Assistant Fire Chief Roger Christensen said firefighters got the alarm at 4:22 a.m. and arrived to find flames billowing out of the west side of the home. Joseph MacGregor and a holiday house guest were outside. The badly-burned father had cut himself trying to break a window to get inside to his wife and daughters, Christensen said.
Heavy fire was blocking their exit at the front door and bedroom furniture blocked their escape through the window.
A next-door neighbor, Melissa Bjorklund, said she was awakened by screams.
"The flames were all over the place," Bjorklund said. "We were so afraid that our house was going to burn."
Bjorkland watched the badly burned Joseph MacGregor and his house guest struggle to get the two girls out their bedroom window on the east side of the house. But both girls were asleep or unconscious in a bunk bed that was pushed up against the window.
Bjorklund said the bigger girl was in the top bunk, and the two men could not manage to get her out the high window. They had no way of reaching the smaller girl on the bottom bunk.
Firefighters arrived and apparently managed to push the bunk away from the window and get the mother and girls to safety.
All four family members were taken to Harborview after an evaluation at St. Joseph hospital.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation Sunday. Christensen said it may have started in the living room, on the west side of the home, where the house guest was asleep on a sofa. The guest was awakened by the fire and escaped without injury.
The fire burned out most of the west wall of the house, and flames burned through a portion of the roof. The heat was intense enough to turn a nearby wooden slat fence to cinders. The other unit in the duplex was damaged, but its residents escaped injury and are moving in with relatives, Bjorklund said.
Firefighters from South Whatcom Fire Authority assisted Bellingham firefighters in extinguishing the blaze.
In a news release, Boyd noted that although firefighters train for these types of rescues, they are very rare in Bellingham. He commended the quick action by the first fire crews on the scene.
"Our hearts go out to this family during this time of crisis," Boyd said.
Reach John Stark at 360-715-2274 or john.stark@bellinghamherald.com. Read his Politics blog at TheBellinghamHerald.com/blogs.
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