Fire damages Hazel Dell home

A Hazel Dell home’s porch burned Sunday afternoon, but firefighters were able to keep the flames from entering the house.

Firefighters were called to 3313 N.E. 82nd St. around 3:30 p.m., and arrived to find the split-level house’s upper-level deck aflame, Vancouver Fire Department spokesman Joe Spatz said.

The deck doubled as a kind of carport, he said, and it had been lined with corrugated steel to prevent water from draining through.

That meant firefighters had to pull off deck planks to get at fire burning between the wood and metal.

“It was a stubborn fire,” he said.

After dousing the fire, firefighters went inside to check whether the flames had made it into the house.

Spatz said there was no fire damage, but ample smoke damage, inside. No one was home at the time.

The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office was investigating.