Back-to-back house fires in upscale Vancouver neighborhoods created nightmarish conditions for firefighters on Wednesday as they hurried from one blaze to the next.
Around 4:45 p.m., the Vancouver Fire Department was called to the 5700 block of Buena Vista Drive for a reported grass fire that was threatening three homes on a bluff in the Evergreen Highlands neighborhood.
The outside of one house at 5727 Buena Vista Drive was damaged, but firefighters were able to douse the flames before they spread to two neighboring homes. Hot and windy conditions kept firefighters busy as they watered down the hillside to prevent the fire from re-igniting.
The home that caught fire on Buena Vista Drive was last assessed at $599,659, according to Clark County property records.
Don Riddle just bought the house behind the home that was damaged by fire. He noticed the brush fire and sprayed down the property.
“At one point, those flames were 30 or 40 feet high,” Riddle said.
Nearby residents were reportedly evacuated as the fire spread south, downhill, toward Evergreen Boulevard. Smoke could be seen from state Highway 14 and was also visible from Oregon. Vancouver Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Olson wasn’t sure how much of the hillside burned, but said it was a “large amount.”
“Our biggest fear is another fire happening elsewhere with all our resources committed, or this one flaring up in another location,” said Capt. Matt Thierfelder.
That fear came true. As firefighters were finishing up the brush fire around 6:15 p.m., 911 received calls about two more house fires on the south side of state Highway 14 near the Lieser Road exit, about 1.5 miles away.
Flames were seen coming from the houses, which are next door to one another in the Old Evergreen Highway neighborhood.
Shannon Nowles, who’s lived in the neighborhood since 1976, watched as the roof of her neighbor’s home caved in from the fire.
“This is tragic,” she said. “Life is going along just fine, and in one fell swoop everything turns.”
The fires at 8917 S.E. Porter Road and 8912 S.E. Hillcrest Drive led to another vegetation fire, which firefighters got under control, Olson said. Firefighters from the Portland Fire Bureau, Fire District 6 and the state Department of Natural Resources assisted the Vancouver Fire Department.
Although the fires were knocked down, both homes were significantly damaged by fire. The house at 8917 S.E. Porter Road was last assessed at $473,935, and the house at 8912 Hillcrest Drive at $499,869, according to property records.
None of the homes’ occupants were reported injured in the fires.
Jon Kirby, who lives down the block, said his wife looked up and saw smoke.
“It’s just a barbecue,” he told her.
Quickly, he realized it was not a barbecue.
Kirby went to alert the homeowners. A woman was hosing down the house and a man was inside, he said. He told them they needed to get away from the house. The experience was “just crazy,” Kirby said.
Firefighters stayed on the scenes of the fires for hours, putting out spot fires and making sure the homes would not re-ignite,due to the windy conditions. At one point, as firefighters got the blazes under control, Olson said he could feel the wind picking up.
“It makes me so nervous,” he said.
Olson did not know the causes of the fires, which are under investigation by the Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office.
