Whatcom County resident awakes to find his blankets on fire
A Whatcom County resident was able to escape his trailer uninjured after waking up to find his blankets on fire Wednesday night.
Whatcom County Fire District 14 firefighters were called to the report of a structure fire at 11:23 p.m. Oct. 20 in the 6200 block of Laurel Avenue in Maple Falls, according to the PulsePoint app.
They arrived to find a 35- to 40-foot travel trailer engulfed in flames, District 14 Chief Jerry Debruin told The Bellingham Herald.
“The guy who was living there went to sleep, and he had an electric heater,” Debruin said. “He said he thought he turned it off, but he wasn’t 100 percent sure.
“He woke up to find his blankets were on fire. Again, he’s not sure, but he thinks he might have kicked the blankets off as he slept, and that’s how it got started.”
The resident attempted to smother flames with other blankets, Debruin reported, but that did not help and he was forced to evacuate and wait for firefighters.
“By the time we got there, there wasn’t much we could do,” Debruin said.
Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to another trailer parked 20-25 feet away, though flames did torch an awning on that trailer, Debruin said. Nobody was injured in the fire.
