LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Tragedy in the North Sound as fire raced through a two-story home with deadly consequences.
An 81-year-old woman died in the fire. Her 91-year-old husband, who was on the outside deck, survived.
The fire broke out at around noon on 33rd Place West in Lynnwood.
This tragedy has affected a lot of people. This woman had a large extended family. And many of them raced to the scene. They saw their family home, destroyed and the family matriarch dead.
Many in Lynnwood’s Alteridge neighborhood said they had never seen such a scene before.
“Looked west, and there was just a lot of smoke,” said neighbor Gregg Kobb.
Kobb was in his backyard when he first noticed smoke. Then he came to the front yard.
“Looked up the street,” said Kobb. “And I saw a house in flames coming from the garage, from the top of the house, a lot of smoke.”
When South County firefighters arrived, the first floor of the house was fully engulfed. And several other areas were beginning to collapse.
“And so, firefighters used a ladder to access the second floor,” said Christie Veley, South County Fire communications director. “There were other areas of the home that were also in danger of collapsing. So, it was a challenging situation for them to be able to get in and do a search.”
Once they could search, they found an 81-year-old woman dead, inside.
Her son told KIRO 7, off camera, that his 91-year-old father was outside on the deck when the fire broke out. His mother could not escape the flames.
Christie Veley said firefighters did not hear a working fire detector. She said they are especially valuable in newer homes, with their wide open rooms filled with plastics.
“Your couch might have plastics in it,” said Veley. “Polyester has petroleum in it. There’s all kind of things that fill our houses nowadays that are very flammable and cause fires to spread.”
All of it is casting a pall over this neighborhood.
“Unbelievable,” said neighbor Kobb. “I’ve never seen a fire like that. And I don’t want to see another one.”
This fire is touching so many in the neighborhood.
Christie Veley said the lifespan of a smoke detector is about 10 years. So, if yours is that old or older, you need to replace it.
Now the Snohomish County fire marshal is trying to figure out where and how this fire started.