Dog dies, Lynden home suffers heavy damage in Tuesday afternoon fire
A dog died and a Lynden home was damaged Tuesday afternoon after a fire broke out in the kitchen area.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 26, a Lynden Fire Department engine was driving in the 400 block of South 17th Street when the captain on the truck noticed smoke coming from second-floor windows of a two-story home. Once it was confirmed it was actually smoke, the captain radioed dispatch for additional crews from North Whatcom Fire & Rescue and Fire District 7 for a working structure fire, according to Lynden Fire Chief Mark Billmire.
Crews entered the home from the back of the house and found heavy smoke and flames inside. Firefighters believe the fire may have started in the kitchen area of the home, Billmire said.
Firefighters found a black Labrador loose in the house and were able to get the dog out safely. Crews then learned from nearby neighbors and the home’s owners that there was another dog inside in a kennel underneath the stairs, Billmire said.
Crews found the dog and tried to resuscitate it, but it died, Billmire said.
No one was home at the time of the fire, he said.
There were no smoke detectors in the home, he said.
“We were fortunate this happened at 12:30 p.m. and not 12:30 at night, and that no one was home,” Billmire said.
A second alarm was called for the fire as a precaution, but once crews were inside, the second-alarm units were canceled, Billmire said.
He said the house suffered heavy smoke damage. A cause is still under investigation, Billmire said.
Billmire said the Lynden Fire Department relies heavily on help from other jurisdictions to fight larger fires, as they only have four firefighters working at a time.
“I want to thank all the other departments who responded on that. We had a really good response,” Billmire said. “That’s when they really show up when we go on a fire like that and when we need the manpower, so that was really appreciated.”
