Elderly woman in wheelchair dies in two-alarm house fire near Ferndale
A two-alarm house fire Monday morning just north of Ferndale ended up being deadly, as an elderly woman in a wheelchair became trapped inside.
An elderly man who lived in the house managed to exit the two-story home and was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Whatcom County Fire District 7 Assistant Chief Dean Crosswhite told The Bellingham Herald.
District 7 crews were joined by those from North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and District 8, Crosswhite said, in responding the report of a structure fire at 11:16 a.m. in the 7200 block of Enterprise Road near Harksell Road. Crosswhite said a second alarm was called shortly after the first to get tender trucks on scene to help with water supply.
“The first two units on scene were command units, and they found it fully charged, with smoke coming out of all the first-floor windows,” Crosswhite told The Herald.
Crews found that the man was able to get out of the house on his own, but efforts by neighbors who witnessed the fire to help get the woman out were unsuccessful.
“They tried, but the heat and smoke — it was so hot and so thick they couldn’t have entered without the proper equipment,” Crosswhite said.
Crews were able to quickly knock flames down, and Crosswhite described the still-standing structure as heavily damaged, but not destroyed. Investigators were still looking into what started the fire.
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 11:52 AM.
