Three homes destroyed in separate fires

CHELAN - Yesterday (Friday, February 24) was a busy day for the Chelan and Manson fire departments.
At 10:25 a.m. we received an alarm for a house fire on SR150 near Lenore Drive in Chelan. The initial report from dispatch described a house under construction that was fully involved.
Battalion Chief 72 arrived five minutes later and confirmed the initial report from dispatch and began directing fire crews to begin protecting the immediate exposures to the west and north east. Both of these exposed houses sustained damage from radiant heat but fire crews were able to contain the fire to the burning house. Winds out of the east caused the fire to seriously threaten the house to the west but Engine 71 and Ladder 71 crews were able to successfully prevent fire spreading into this house. When Ladder 71 began applying water to the home to the west, it was only minutes if not seconds from catching on fire due to intense heat exposure. The windows had shattered and the facia trim was already on fire when Ladder 71 began their fire attack.
Crews from Manson Fire including an engine, a water tender and Fire Chief Arnold Baker arrived on scene and assisted with water supply and exposure protection as well as assisting with several small fires that had started in the brush along the exposed hill side. The farthest spot fire started over 200 feet away from this home.
A tender from Entiat Fire Department arrived to assist with water supply as well. Fire Chief Jim Oatey from Douglas County Fire District 4 arrived on scene to assist with checking out the home to the west to ensure fire had not spread to the interior of this home.
The cause of this fire is suspected to be a heater being placed too close to flammable building components. The general message here is that accidents happen and we are grateful to the contractors on scene being honest about everything that took place. There were four contractors inside the structure at the time the fire started but nobody was hurt or injured. There was an attempt to extinguish the fire by one of the contractors but they were ultimately unsuccessful due to the danger of the interior conditions.
The last fire unit left the scene just before 2:30 p.m.
During this house fire, Chelan Fire & Rescue responded to two other calls for service. One was a medical call in town and the other call was a vehicle accident on Upper Ridge Road in the Bear Mountain area of Chelan. Our resources began to respond to the medical aid call but then had to divert to the vehicle accident on Upper Ridge Road due to available resources. Chelan EMS responded to provide care for the medical aid call and to the vehicle accident.
Two hours later, while crews were busy cleaning and placing equipment back in service, we received another alarm for a fully involved home fire on Willmorth Road in Chelan.
Chelan Fire & Rescue arrived on scene 4 minutes after the initial dispatch to a fully involved house on fire. The fire conditions prevented fire crews from entering the structure, so our efforts were focused on keeping the fire contained to the house and protecting surrounding buildings and property.
There were several animals located near the structure and their safety was also one of our main objectives. There was nobody inside the house at the time of the fire, but the homeowner reported that she lost a few pets to this devastating fire.
Once again, we had mutual aid assistance from the Manson Fire Department. They arrived on scene and assisted with defensive fire operations and later with overhaul efforts.
Once the fire was knocked down, we requested assistance from the Chelan County Fire Marshall. The fire investigator arrived on scene to begin with his investigation efforts.
I would like to thank all of our firefighters who helped on these fires. We had an excellent turn out from our volunteer and career firefighters and this serves as an excellent example of how well our organization works when the alarm rings. And to our fellow firefighters from Manson Fire Department who showed up right in time to make these emergencies go as well as they possibly could.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the persons who reported these fires and recognize the emergency dispatchers who did everything they could to get the call out to us so quickly. Every second counts when a fire breaks out.

The home that burned on Willmorth Road belonged to Cheyenne Stocker and her family.
A Go Fund Me Account has been set up for them: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-stocker-family-lost-everything-in-fire
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To learn how to make your home Wildfire Defensible and for Emergency Preparedness go to these websites:

https://chelan7.com/safety-prevention/wildfire-defensible-space/
https://chelan7.com/safety-prevention/emergency-preparedness/

http://mansonfire.org/emergency-preparedness/
https://mansonfire.org/wildland-urban-interface/

Chelan and Manson Fire Departments also offer a free property inspection
Chelan Fire & Rescue - 509-682-4476
Manson Fire Dept. - 509-687-3222

Chelan County Fire District #8 | Entiat WA • https://www.facebook.com/ccfd8