GRAHAM, Wash. — Lori Cooper found out from her husband there was a fire near the home she had lived in for just four months -- in Puyallup's Sunrise neighborhood.
"My husband was texting me pictures when we were coming back from the Blue Angels, that there was smoke nearby,” said Cooper. “And I was like 'Is there a house on fire?' He goes 'No, but the woods close are on fire.'”
Cooper and her neighbors woke up to a haze of smoke filling the valley and their homes.
The Sunrise Fire grew from two acres Saturday to 67 acres Sunday, even as firefighters battled it.
Gig Harbor Division Fire Chief Eric Waters showed on a map the 6,700-foot line firefighters were able to dig, finally containing the fire early Sunday afternoon, about 14 hours after the fire started.
Chief Waters says residents can rest more easily -- but they shouldn't let their guard down completely.
“Regardless if there is a fire close to you, you should always have, if you live in an urban interface, a defensible space established ahead of time," said Chief Waters. "So that if something comes along you don't have to try and scramble to establish that."
The memory of what they saw still weighed on residents like Chris Seigars.
"It was literally like right over the trees right there yesterday, probably about 500 yards from us,” said Chris.
Firefighters say they will likely be there at least a couple more days before they are able to put the fire out.
The Pierce County Fire Marshal may know by then what caused it: whether nature, like a lightning strike, or human beings.
KIRO
