An early-morning fire caused extensive damage to a home on Walbrun Road in Sultan last week.
The homeowner, Tracy Freih, called 911 at 5:19 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12, when he woke up and discovered the blaze. The roof was engulfed by flames and the fire had spread down into the attic by the time Snohomish County Fire District #5 firefighters arrived on scene.
Fortunately, all four members of the Freih family were able to safely flee the burning house, and the flames were extinguished by firefighters in approximately 30 minutes.
The blaze was fanned by high winds, which had been ongoing since Tuesday, Nov. 11.
The deputy chief arrived within six minutes of the call and set up the command station. Firefighters arrived on-scene two minutes later. Two fire trucks from District #5 responded along with one apparatus from Gold Bar's District 26 station.
One medic unit was also dispatched from District #5. District #5 Chief Merlin Halverson, who lives in Gold Bar, was on scene within 13 minutes. The flames were visible from U.S. 2 as he approached.
"The good thing is there are hydrants up there,GÇ¥ said Halverson. "That's always a good thing for us.GÇ¥
The investigation as to the exact origin of the blaze is still ongoing, but it is believed to be related to a chimney from a wood stove. The Snohomish County Fire Marshall, who is the typical investigatory agent in residential fires, will continue his investigation this week.
The flames, exacerbated by the high winds, engaged the steeply-inclined wood shingle roof. While wood shingle roofs are appealing on numerous levels including aesthetics, durability and the ability to blend naturally into wooded neighborhoods, the obvious drawback is their extreme flammability. In this case, the main body of the fire was located underneath the roof, not on top, which made it more challenging to contain due to the necessity of attacking the main body of the flames to stop the burning.
Blasting the roof with water from the outside can prevent the spread of the fire to neighboring homes and trees, but the fire will continue to burn from underneath the surface and within the areas where the roof shingles overlap.
"You can spend weeks up there just putting water on the roof and it's not going to put that fire out,GÇ¥ said Halverson. "You have to get up there and you have to get in the attic and put the main body of the fire out GÇô and then you've got to get on the roof and you've got to fight the fire a shingle at a time.GÇ¥
It is simply too problematic for firefighters to access the inside of the home and attempt to fight these types of fires via the contained space in the home's crawlspace. Additionally, the Walbrun Road home's steeply pitched roof provided further accessibility challenges.
To accommodate all the variables and address the fire in the most effective way possible, firefighters cut holes into the triangular portion of the outer wall of the home just below where the two sides of pitched roof joined together. The holes provided them with access to the main body of the fire from outside the home and they were able to blast it with the fire hose.
"It's all about being physical and aggressive on a fire like this,GÇ¥ said Halverson. "The good news is nobody got hurt.GÇ¥
The fire was extinguished without causing damage to neighboring residences; the residents were not injured; firefighters were not injured and no equipment was damaged during the process.
"They'll be able to rebuild that house,GÇ¥ said Halverson. "There's a lot of water damage in the bottom of it, but the fire was stopped in the attic.GÇ¥
The Freih family, long-time Sultan residents, will be temporarily relocated to Monroe for at least six to eight months while their home is rebuilt. Preliminary communication with the insurance company has indicated that nothing is salvageable due to extensive water and smoke damage. Staci Freih's brother, Sultan resident Jeremy Bell, requested donations via social media in hopes of helping his sister and her family.
Bell facilitated the collection of food, clothing, kitchen utensils and other items, and was overwhelmed by the generous response he received from the Sky Valley community.
"People have been dropping stuff by our house, and at ACE with Stacy, all day,GÇ¥ said Bell. "It just blows me away.GÇ¥
Bell's girlfriend, Stacy Stemmerman, works at ACE Hardware.
Anybody interested in helping the Freih family can do so via the Go Fund Me account: http://www.gofundme.com/h7pggs?fb_action_ids=10204908928741419&fb_action_types=og.shares. Donations are also being accepted at the Sky Valley Eagles club. The Eagles served the Freih family, along with Bell and his family, a complimentary breakfast on Sunday, Nov. 16 and have been collecting donations since the incident.
The Sky Valley Eagles facility is located at 1112 E Main St. in Sultan.
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