Neighbor’s quick response with extinguisher limits damage at Bellingham home fire
A neighbor’s quick work with a fire extinguisher before Bellingham firefighters arrived helped limit the damage at a Roosevelt neighborhood home fire Tuesday afternoon.
Bellingham Fire Department and North Whatcom Fire and Rescue crews were called at 4:24 p.m. March 3 to the 2200 block of Yew Street after a 911 caller reported seeing smoke from an upstairs window, Captain Dave Pethick told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
First crews on the scene found light smoke around the structure and flames in the kitchen, Pethick reported, and firefighters forced entry through the first door and extinguished the fire quickly.
Before crews arrived, a neighbor broke a window and entered the house to use a fire extinguisher to knock down the flame, helping limit damage, according to Pethick.
“Fire extinguishers are designed to interfere with the growth of a fire during the incipient, or early, phase of a fire,” Pethick wrote. “The use of an extinguisher had a direct impact on this fire, allowing the resident to remain in the house and resulting in very little damage being caused by this fire.”
Pethick added that kitchen fires are common in the home, and frequent causes include inattentive cooking, poor housekeeping and accidentally turning on gas burners.
“We urge you to pay attention in the kitchen and keep both your stove top and oven clean and clear of debris,” Pethick said.
