SUMAS - A fire engine took out a power pole and rolled onto its side while responding to a report of a house fire Saturday afternoon, June 23. But nobody was injured.

Roger DeBruin, 54, was driving District 14's Spartan engine southbound on a narrow stretch of Sumas Road, through heavy wind and rain, to a house fire on Golden Valley Drive.

A northbound truck hauling a horse trailer caused DeBruin to veer slightly to the right to let it pass at 4:11 p.m., said Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary.

The engine pulled over just far enough to slip off the road. It took out a power pole before rolling onto its side in a ditch.

DeBruin, who was wearing a seatbelt, was not hurt. Three other firefighters in the truck also escaped unscathed, Leary said.

Initial reports suggested the house fire on Golden Valley turned out to be minor, with no injuries and damage contained to one wall, but that could not be confirmed Saturday evening.

Calls to Fire District 14 Chief Jerry DeBruin were not returned. The extent of damage to the fire engine remained unclear.

Nobody was ticketed. Troopers listed the cause of the crash as "weather conditions." Trees toppled from strong gusts of wind along Whatcom County highways Saturday, as rain and thunder storms moved through the lowlands.

Seventy-five people lost power when the pole was knocked down, said Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman Gretchen Aliabadi.

About half of those customers had electricity restored within a couple of hours. Others had to wait until the pole was replaced. That was expected to take a few more hours.