Cause of last week’s fatal home fire west of Bellingham undetermined
Whatcom County fire investigators were unable to pinpoint what started a fire last week just west of Bellingham that resulted in the death of a man in his early 90s.
The Bellingham Fire Department was called to the 3200 block of Bennett Drive at approximately 5 p.m. Dec. 29 for the report of a residential fire, according to the PulsePoint app.
Neighbors called to report the fire after seeing flames coming from multiple windows at the front of the home, fire department spokesperson Dustin Michaelis told The Bellingham Herald Tuesday, Jan. 4.
Firefighters went into offensive mode and attempted to enter the home after arriving on scene, Michaelis said, though did not know that anybody was home at the time. They briefly had to retreat due to safety concerns, according to Michaelis, but reassessed and were able to resume attacking flames and got it extinguished quickly.
It was after the fire was extinguished that firefighters found the body, Michaelis reported.
Retired Whatcom County Medical examiner Dr. Gary Goldfogel told The Herald that the victim was a man in his early 90s and that he died from smoke inhalation.
Whatcom County fire investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire, Michaelis said, because “there were multiple possibilities of what may have caused it and too much damage to make a positive determination.”
It was the third fatal home fire that Bellingham firefighters were called to 2021, after the department responded to a pair of fatal house fires during a three-day stretch in mid-February.
