Yellow Pages
No injuries were reported in two separate house fires Thursday night that displaced two Anacortes families.
The Anacortes Fire Department got a call about a mattress on fire in a downstairs apartment in the 1100 block of 24th Street around 8:15 p.m.
The resident’s 3-year-old son woke her up when he noticed the end of the bed was on fire, said Fire Chief Richard Curtis. The mom tried to put the fire out with water in a pan. She yelled for a friend, who brought a fire extinguisher, which also didn’t entirely extinguish the fire.
Firefighters dragged the mattress outside and hosed it down.
Curtis said a short lamp without a shade was sitting at the foot of the bed. Covers were likely pushed into the lightbulb.
“It burned the bedding and caused the fire,” he said.
Firefighters got a second call just before 3 a.m. Friday morning that a 1,200-square-foot manufactured home was on fire in the 2300 block of Baron Place in Skyline.
Curtis said the house had no smoke detectors. Someone in the house happened to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and smelled smoke.
He said the fire’s cause was related to an electrical box underneath one of the bedroom floors. The fire burned up into the bedroom and into the ceiling.
“It was contained pretty much to that one room,” Curtis said.
There was about $10,000 in damage to the home and contents.
Brian Geer, executive director of the Anacortes/San Juan Islands Chapter of the American Red Cross, said they are working with both families to make sure they get everything they need to get back on their feet.
“Both families have been sheltered for the night and items like clothes, food, bedding and medication will be replaced immediately,” he said.
The Red Cross provides the free service to victims of disaster thanks to the generosity of donors, Geer said. To make a donation, stop by the office at 2900 T Avenue or mail donations to P.O. Box 249, Anacortes, WA 98221.
The Fire Department also responded to natural gas leak after a 2-inch gas line was broken by a backhoe shortly before 11 a.m. Friday. Crews stood by until employees of Cascade Natural Gas arrived.
