UPDATE: Bellingham police investigating Monday’s fatal car crash and fire along Telegraph
A driver died Monday night in Bellingham when the car he or she was driving crashed into a tree and burst into flames along Telegraph Road in the King Mountain neighborhood.
Bellingham firefighters and police were called to a vehicle fire at 11:23 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24, in the 1000 block of Telegraph Road near the Unity Spiritual Center, according to the Pulse Point app.
The call was soon updated to having somebody trapped inside the burning car, fire department spokesperson Dave Pethick told The Bellingham Herald Tuesday.
“When our crews got there, police were already on scene trying to gain entry to the car, which was off the road and into a tree and on fire,” Pethick told The Herald.
Fire crews joined the efforts to free the person from the car and extinguish flames, but Pethick said the person died before he or she could be extracted from the vehicle.
Pethick said the deceased driver was the only occupant in the car and that the car was “a ways” off Telegraph Road.
Police crime scene investigators, traffic officers and the Whatcom County Medical Examiner arrived on scene to investigate, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email Tuesday.
“Pending notification of next of kin, no further information will be released,” Murphy wrote. “The cause of the crash is still under investigation.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 2:37 PM.
